What is most efficient turboprop plane?

Question

compare speed vs fuel consumption. also keep in mind useful payload

Answer 1

Single: PC12

Twin: King 200 or 300

Answer 2

It is hard to beat the King Air 200... one of the few planes that you can put four hours of fuel and fill the seats up, cruise at 280kts and still be within limits.  The max gross weight for the 200 is 12,500lbs...to keep from having a type rating to operate, but the military uses 15,000lbs max gross weight.

Answer 3

The change in criteria makes it a fairly good sized machine now...   The *original* Sa-226 Metroliners that were retrofitted with the Garrett -10 engines  was a great little airplane and would haul 3000 pounds about 800 miles at 260 kts, with an 1,100 mile range.They were a little fragile, you could not pound them the way some operators did. The Metro II was heavier and stronger, so you lost some useful load.

  If you went up to the Sa-227 you get a little more useful load for the same range, and require a type rating.  The Saab 340 would do it, but you are looking at a much larger airplane now and they keep getting larger from there.

The Beech 1900 was close but not as good, as was the Bae Jetstream 3200, but it didn't have the large cargo door that the Metro had, which made it the plane of choice for that reason alone in many instances.  The old DC-3's are still flying... and they can carry quite a load, but are  very slow... but the biggest door of all...and there are turbo-prop conversions of it as well.

Answer 4

look at the ATR72 and bombardier Q-400

Answer 5

What kind of payload are you looking for?

Single or twin?

Lots of variables un accounted for.Get a Turbine Glasair, Lancer, Glastar, and you've got a screamer that'll haul four people and MAYBE an extra pair of shoes for each, faster than fast, with probably the best economy for any turbo prop.

If you wanna haul people AND their luggage fast its gonna cost you more...

If you wanna haul a baseball team around or cargo, The Kingair is not only efficient, but comes with a comparatively low operating cost.

Answer 6

The Pilatus PC-12 or the TBM 850 are great single engine turboprops.  They are good speed wise and also good on the fuel.  The turbine Lance Air is a screamer.  

As for twins.  The MU-2 is very fuel efficient and fast as h**l.  The only draw back is a not so great safety record.  There is a lot of debete though if it is pilot error or the plane it self.  It is a very tricky plane to fly, but studies show that the people that attend school on them have a lot safer record then the average owner pilot.  You can pick them up pretty cheap too.  The Piaggio P.180 is a really fast twin, infact it is now the fasted turboprop on the market.  I am not sure how it is on fuel consumption.  The good ole work horse Kingair still can't be beat.