In an effort to showcase the Piper M600 SLS’s Garmin-made autoland system, Piper is taking the show on the road starting this month. Over the next two months, the factory SLS will visit each Piper dealer in the U.S. to show off the HALO Safety System, which includes autoland and autothrottle.
According to the company, “The tour will include stops at each U.S. Piper dealer’s headquarters as well as additional stops within each dealer’s regional territory. The first stop of the tour will be at Des Moines Flying Service in Des Moines, Iowa. The aircraft will then visit Kansas, Texas, the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Southeast states followed by multiple stops through the Southwest, California and the Pacific Northwest. Static Displays are planned at each stop, as well as demonstration flights for customers, prospects, and invited guests.” Be nice to your local Piper dealer and see if you can be invited.
“The M600 SLS greatly improves situational awareness and enhances safety with the addition of the new HALO System which includes Garmin Autoland,” said Ron Gunnarson, vice president of sales, marketing and customer support. “With this in mind, we felt compelled to provide prospective customers with an opportunity to experience the HALO Safety System and Garmin Autoland firsthand while learning more about the aircraft’s new standard EXP luxury interior appointments as well as the competitive service and support package.”
The M600 SLS, introduced last October, costs just under $3 million with autoland as part of the Garmin G3000 avionics suite. The evergreen Pratt & Whitney PT6A-42A up front takes the M600 to 274 knots and as high as 30,000 feet.
Sure would be nice to have a spare $3M in my portfolio to pick up one of these beauties. Oh, what the heck, might as well spring for an additional $1.43M for the TBM 940 ($4.13M) which is considerably faster. Only in my dreams…
As long as you update the software before every flight flight, it should work as advertised.