flight test / Piper M350 Pressurized Piston cruiser Piper’s M350 fares well against the competition, occupying its unique niche as the only new pressurized piston- engine aircraft on the market. By Robert Erdos obility is a highly prized commodity for some busy people, both in business and in leisure. If you’re a pilot “on the go,” Piper Aircraft’s M350 pressurized piston- powered single-engine airplane may be a solution. Aviation Unlimited, Piper’s Canadian sales dis- tributor, brought a brand new demonstrator air- craft, registration C-GBTB, to Ottawa on a sunny autumn day. Isaac Capua and Conrad Hatcher flew the airplane from Aviation Unlimited’s base at Oshawa Airport. As it happened, their arrival for our flight proved a good test of the airplane, as the Ottawa airport was under a blanket of fog. It was encouraging indeed to see, or rather hear, the aircraft complete a tough instrument approach and taxi out of the mist for our meeting. The M350 is the latest development of what was originally Piper’s popular PA-46 Malibu; a design introduced in 1983 which ushered in the age of the cabin-class single. The original Continental engine- powered, 310 horsepower (HP) Malibu suffered a number of high-profile engine failures, so Piper rebooted the design with the 350 HP Lycoming- powered Mirage in 1989. The concept for the M 74 SKIES Magazine | | March/April 2017 SKIES Magazine March/April 2017