If a new or used Cirrus Vision Jet isn’t in the cards, there are other choices that could make good sense. The only obstacles (other than money) might be the tricky insurance market, and finding an aging turbine that won’t end up a hangar queen. We went shopping to see what some popular turbine singles are selling for, and just like in the used piston market, prices are up—way up.
With a budget capped at $1.5 million (half of a Vision Jet), the first stop in the shopping trip might be at the Piper brand. On the low end is the DLX JetProp. These are piston-powered Piper PA-46 Malibus converted by Rocket Engineering under FAA STC with Pratt PT6A turboprops, and generally cruise at around 250 knots true with a 1000-NM range. In case you’re wondering, DL and DLX are Roman numerals for 550 and 560, and in the case of the mod, the nomenclature represents the shaft horsepower of the PT6A engines used on the airplanes. The slower (by roughly 10 knots) DL model uses the PT6A-21, while the DLX has the PT6A-35. There were far fewer DL conversions, and we’ll over 300 total airplanes have been converted. We found a handful of JetProps for sale on the popular Controller.com website, including a 1985 model priced at $700,000. On the other end of the spectrum, newer conversions are we’ll north of $1 million. For example, a 2015 conversion (which started life as a piston in 2004) with 640 hours on the PT6A-35 is priced at $1.15 million. No matter which vintage JetProp, an engine overhaul (TBO is 3600 hours) will run every bit of $150,000.