I did a little comparison between the most common jets and turboprops for a longer flight. Partly inspired by @loco TBM930 trip and also partly by the operational cost thread: Cost per year
I based comparison on a fictional 5000nm trip (as I wanted to include multiple stops as this has real world impact on time). I’ve calculated for 1hr IFR reserves and not accounted for climb power burn, just counted the cruise fuel flow to do the 5000nm. Each fuel stop I counted as 1hr. Here we go:
Turbo Commander 1000 (1700nm range, 300kts, 402pph, 3 stops ):
Time: 16.66hrs
Fuel stop time: 3hrs
TOTAL TIME: 19.66hrs
FUEL BURN: 999.6gal
Citation Mustang (1269nm range, 336kts, 540pph, 4 stops):
Time: 14.88hrs
Fuel stop time: 4hrs
TOTAL TIME: 18.88hrs
FUEL BURN: 1199.28gal
Pilatus PC12NG (1600nm range, 278kts, 360pph, 3 stops):
Time: 17.98hr
Fuel stop time: 3hrs
TOTAL TIME: 21hrs
FUEL BURN: 971gal
Piaggio Avanti (1398nm range, 364kt, 580pph, 4 stops):
Time: 13.73hrs
Fuel stop time: 4hrs
TOTAL TIME: 17.73hrs
FUEL BURN: 1188gal.
Cessna Citation CJ4 (1800nm, 420kts, 1000pph, 3 stops):
Time: 11.9hrs
Fuel stop time: 3hrs
TOTAL TIME: 14.9hrs
FUEL BURN: 1776gal
TBM 900 long range (1683nm range, 252kts, 253pph, 3 stops):
Time: 19.84
Fuel stop time: 3hrs
Total time: 22.84
Fuel burn: 754gal.
Cessna Citation CJ3 (1345nm, 408kts, 1096pph, 4 stops):
Time: 12.25hrs
Fuel stop time: 4hrs
Total time: 16.25hrs
Fuel burn: 2003gal.
I guess there are no real surprises here – turboprops still win out over jets. A CJ4 will get you there the quickest. But it will do so at almost 1.5 times as much fuel as the Avanti, whilst only being 2.5hrs quicker and not carrying any more people. Perhaps even more surprising is that the Citation Mustang will burn more fuel and take longer to get there compared to the Avanti. Completely unsurprisingly, the TBM and the PC12 will get you there with the lowest fuel burn. But if you calculate in the cost of capital on these SETP’s, they’re actually worse than all the TP twins and even some jets, i.e. bad bang-for-buck:
If low fuel cost per mile is your priority, this is the order:
1. TBM 900
2. PC12NG
3. Commander
4. Avanti
5. Mustang
6. CJ4
6. CJ3
If efficiency is your criteria (total fuel burn/kts):
1. TBM 900 (2.98gal/kts)
2. Avanti (3.26gal/kts)
3. Commander (3.32gal/kts)
4. PC12NG (3.49gal/kts)
5. Mustang (3.56gal/kts)
6. CJ4 (4.22gal/kts)
7. CJ3 (4.90gal/kts)
If long range speed is your criteria:
1. CJ4
2. CJ3
3. Avanti
4. Mustang
5. Commander
6. PC12NG
7. TBM 900 (slightly misleading as I’ve here used the ultra long range number for cruise speed, the TBM is capable of going much faster than this, but then range comes down)
If low fuel burn per seat is your criteria:
1. PC12NG (107gal/seat)
2. Commander (125gal/seat)
3. TBM 900 (125gal/seat)
4. Avanti (132gal/seat)
5. Mustang (199gal/seat)
6. CJ4 (222gal/seat)
7. CJ3 (250gal(seat)
If bang for buck is your criteria (efficiency x used purchase price in millions) – lower is better:
1. Commander 3.98 ($1.2 million)
2. Mustang 4.27 ($1.2 million)
3. Avanti 4.89 ($1.5 million)
1. TBM 900 8.94 ($3 million)
4. PC12NG 10.47 ($3 million)
6. CJ3 19.6 ($4 million)
5. CJ4 25.32 ($6 million)
Hope you enjoyed this little mind exercise! 
Adam, you really need your own TV-show, genre “Top Gear” but specifically for GA. I’d watch it !
But what would I call it? “Daydreaming About Flying – Whilst Not Actually Flying?”
AdamFrisch wrote:
But what would I call it? “Daydreaming About Flying – Whilst Not Actually Flying?”
The Armchair Pilot….
“If you search hard enough, the Turbo Commander is always best at something” ;-)
Arne wrote:
If you search hard enough, the Turbo Commander is always best at something” ;-)
The key is to carefully define efficiency then leave out of the survey anything that is better eg the Meridian.
Gimme the Meridian numbers and I’ll add it.
JasonC wrote:
And where did you get the CJ3 and CJ4 numbers. @Neil, they look a little off no?
Agree, they don’t look right to me. I don’t have them at my fingertips but I know the CJ4 is over 450kts in the low 30s.
I know the whole things just a bit of fun, but if you really want to fly 5000 nm missions you really need a G450 or better.
CJ4: 2002nm range at 425kts with IFR reserves. Subtract another 106nm for the extra 15min I deducted and it’s around 1896nm – pretty close. Without POH it’s hard to pin things down exactly.
CJ3 someone sent me, I went for 37000ft, 408kts, full weight, 1096lbs/hr. It can go faster, or burn less, but seemed like a good average.
