Advice on path to insurability

[C_Parker]

Good afternoon,

Currently a 300 hour PPL working towards an instrument rating. I would like to continue training and building time such that I'm competent and insurable in a PA46/M350.

All my time is currently in fixed gear single engine Cessnas. What would I need to do to set myself up for the transition? Do I need to buy a complex/HP aircraft to build time? Or.... ? It's not clear to me what time actually helps (if any does) outside of actual time in type.

Thanks

 

[schmookeeg]

I can't speak to the M350 specifically, but time in type is the coin of the realm.

my instrument rating was a big dent in my bonanza when I got it. ($3200 -> $1800/yr)

my commercial rating didn't do jack. My multiengine rating didn't do jack. My CFI ratings didn't do jack. Turbine time seems to have helped a little, but I can't say it was significant.

==

For your scenario, I'd get the IFR rating, then get the plane. If you can get 25 or 50 hours in a PA46/M350 somehow first, even at high cost, I'd do that.

Unless you want to wait 5 years to get your PA46, I think an interstitial plane is a waste of money. getting a new-to-you plane up to mechanical scratch is usually a $5-figure affair, which you'll repeat on the Piper when you get it.

$0.02. Cool problem to have

 

[frfly172]

As a minimum get a check out in a simulator for that model.

 

[Jim K]

I'm working on insurance for a lance. They wanted to know my retract time and my constant speed prop time. The gal I spoke with today said that obviously time in type is huge, but also retract time. She said when I hit 100 hours retract time I'll see a big drop in premium. She also said 250 hrs and 500hrs TT were significant break points.

 

[mondtster]

By the time I started flying the M350 I had plenty of total time so I have no idea where the absolute minimum is, if there is one. I had no time in type prior to being insured and all they wanted was a type specific initial training course from an approved provider. Initial and annual recurrent training is pretty much a standard requirement for the Piper M series airplanes no matter how much time you have.

You might try calling your insurance broker and asking what it would take to get you insured in an M350 and what would help make you more attractive to the underwriters. Total time will help, an instrument rating is a must, and complex time would be a good idea. I know the owner of the M350 I fly looked at getting insured in it and even though he has around 1000 hours total time (but no instrument rating and little complex time) the cheapest insurance premium he could find was around $18k/year. This was while insurance was easier to get than it is now too.