The best single-engine turboprops for owner-pilots
Real operating costs, range, and what the step-up actually costs
The single-engine turboprop sits between piston singles and light jets: jet-like cruise speeds and altitudes, turbine reliability, and operating costs that stay meaningfully below a light jet. For the right owner-pilot, it is the most capable aircraft you can reasonably fly solo.
The category spans an enormous range. The Cessna Caravan is a workhorse utility aircraft; the TBM 960 is one of the fastest single-engine aircraft ever certified; the Pilatus PC-12 carries a cabin larger than many twins. Knowing what separates them matters as much as knowing their top-line numbers.
This guide is written for owner-pilot operation: single-pilot IFR, managing your own recurrent training, and the real cost of keeping a turboprop flying 200 to 400 hours a year.
What these seven cover
Every airplane here runs a single turbine and is certified for one pilot to fly it IFR. That shared floor is the appeal of the category: turbine reliability, flight-level cruise on most of them, and a cost of operation that stays under a light jet’s, in the most capable machine an owner can reasonably fly alone. What the shared floor does not do is make the seven interchangeable. They run from a fixed-gear utility hauler to one of the fastest single-engine aircraft ever certified, and the spread between them in cabin volume, range, cruise speed, and what each asks of the pilot is wider than the common turbine suggests. The next section sorts them by the flying you actually do.
Which one fits how you fly
- If one airplane has to cover unrelated missions, passengers one week and freight the next: the Pilatus PC-12 is the only one here that reconfigures for both without asking you to compromise either.
- If your trips are long and flown on a tight calendar: the TBM 960 gives up the least time on a long leg, cruising close to light-jet speeds.
- If you want that speed without paying new-aircraft money: the TBM 940 reaches it secondhand, a generation earlier for far less.
- If unrefuelled reach matters more than cabin width: the Piper M600 buys long single legs at the cost of the narrow PA-46 cabin.
- If this is your first turbine: the Piper M500 is the lowest-workload entry into turbine flying.
- If you haul weight into rough, unpaved strips rather than chasing the flight levels: the Cessna Caravan trades cruise speed for load and field access the others can’t match.
- If outright speed is the point and you fly enough to stay sharp: the Epic E1000 GX is the fastest of the seven, and rewards the currency that demands.
Our picks
Select up to 5 to compare side by side, or open any aircraft for full specs.If the trip is long and the calendar is unforgiving, the TBM 960 is the honest answer. It cruises at 330 knots, into light-jet territory, on a single PT6 whose digital single-lever control takes much of the turbine workload off your hands. The cabin is narrower than the Pilatus and the entry price sits firmly in jet country, but for 800 nm legs flown often, nothing on this list turns the calendar back faster.
The Pilatus is the one you buy when the mission keeps changing. Families and bags one weekend, a load of freight or a stretcher the next: the cabin rivals a midsize jet’s, the aft cargo door takes what won’t fit through an airstair, and the same airplane still works an unimproved strip. You give up some speed to the TBM and you carry a turbine-sized hangar and insurance bill, but nothing else here refuses to specialise quite so gracefully.
If this is your first turbine, the M500 is the gentlest way across the line. It is the aircraft that defined the owner-flown turboprop: a single-lever PT6 with no mixture, cowl flaps or magneto checks to manage, the lowest insurance and entry cost in this group, and a G1000 NXi that will level the wings and recover the airplane at the push of a button. You give up range, at roughly 1,000 nm, and you will want 3,000 ft of runway, but as a step up from a high-performance piston, nothing here asks less of you on day one.
The M600 is the PA-46 grown into a real cross-country machine. 260 gallons of fuel buys close to 1,500 nm, enough to make New York to Denver a single leg, and the M600/SLS was the first production aircraft certified with Garmin’s emergency Autoland: if the pilot is incapacitated, it finds an airport and lands itself. The cabin is the same narrow PA-46 tube the M500 uses, so what you pay the premium for is range, systems and peace of mind, not elbow room.
Select up to 5 aircraft to compare side by side. selected (max)
Buying advice
A turboprop purchase turns on two things the listing won’t tell you: whether you will fly the airplane enough to stay safe in it, and whether this specific airframe and its engine have been cared for. Neither is about purchase price.
Don’t step straight up from a complex piston. The transition is real. Most instructors and insurers want at least time in a high-performance retractable, with meaningful IMC experience, before the turbine. Be honest about annual hours: every aircraft here is certified for single-pilot IFR, but they differ in how hard they are to hand-fly in the soup, and the fastest, lightest airframes punish a pilot who flies too little to stay current.
Budget the training, not just the airplane. Type-specific initial and recurrent training is not optional. Plan for simulator time, often at a center like FlightSafety or SimuFlite, plus travel to it, as a fixed annual line. Some insurers mandate annual recurrent regardless of type.
Treat the engine program as part of the asset. Most owners enrol in a manufacturer engine maintenance program for cost predictability and resale protection; monthly cost varies by engine and program. When buying used, enrollment status, a continuous logbook, and an unbroken compliance history are worth a real premium, and gaps in any of them are a warning, not a discount.
Match cabin to mission before speed. Useful load and interior layout vary widely across these airframes; a narrow, speed-optimised cabin and a wide, cargo-friendly one suit different owners. Count your usual passengers and bags first. On speed versus range, a faster airplane saves little on short legs and more on long ones, so know your typical stage lengths before you pay for cruise you rarely use.
Buy the inspection and the community. A standard IA pre-buy is not enough; use an inspector with specific time on the type, through the manufacturer’s network or an owner association. The PC-12 and TBM communities (PC12OPA, TBMOPA) and their type-specific training guidance are worth more than they cost. Plan year-one spending 20 to 30 percent above your steady-state estimate, covering initial training, deferred maintenance, and first-year insurance on a new type. Then compare total cost of ownership rather than sticker price: a cheaper older airframe can carry higher maintenance and engine-reserve costs than a newer one. Use ChooseMyPlane’s operating cost data as the starting point, then get quotes from type specialists before committing.
The bottom line
A single-engine turboprop is the right airplane when you need turbine reliability and near-jet, flight-level capability in something one current pilot can fly, and you will put 200 to 400 hours a year on it. The hours are the condition, not a detail: the training, the engine program, and the currency these airframes demand only pay off if you fly enough to stay proficient and spread the fixed cost. If your flying is occasional, or if your mission has outgrown what a single can carry single-pilot, the money is better spent elsewhere. Decide how much and how often you will really fly first; the right airplane on this list follows from that.