You have to give the folks at Piper credit for one thing…they know how to leverage their position in the marketplace. Their recently announced Malibu Matrix stands alone among turbocharged, six-place, retractable gear airplanes. The Matrix cabin dwarfs a Bonanza, it has far more range than a Columbia 400, it’s faster than a Cirrus, and has more baggage space than a Cessna 206. And when you put, say, 100 gallons of fuel in any of them only the Matrix can still carry a whopping 800 pounds of people and baggage. It’s a winner from any viewpoint – speed, cabin size, range, or payload.

 

It’s set up to be a really simple transition for pilots as well. Cirrus and Columbia pilots will easily recognize the Avidyne panel as standard equipment. Also standard in the Matrix are traffic avoidance, electronic charts and real-time, uplink weather. An optional Traffic avoidance system includes an audio callout (“Traffic, 1 o’clock high”) so that your eyes don’t have to leave the sky at the most critical time. IFR approaches are easier, too, because WAAS is standard equipment – and it’s coupled to the autopilot. A simpler high-performance, six-place retract doesn’t exist.

 

Does the weather influence your trip planning? Of course it does. So the Matrix gives you the option for Flight Into Known Icing certification as well as new-generation lightning detection and avoidance. Your trusty Stormscope won’t show you lightning strikes from 1 to 25 miles – but the available Matrix system will. Your margin of error when flying around weather just went way up. And that Florida trip just got a lot more relaxing.

 

While you are up front your passengers will be pampered by a cabin that effectively duplicates that of a $2m turboprop, the Malibu Meridian. Included in the Matrix is Sirius Satellite Radio, complete with a remote control for the passengers. They get the lap of luxury at a pedestrian price.

 

How many times has your range been limited by how much coffee you consumed? Not anymore – the standard relief tube provides, well, relief. Without ever leaving the pilot seat. Need to tell the family you’ll be 30 minutes early? Just send a text message. It’s standard, too. And the list goes on.

 

The Matrix is the culmination of 22 years of experience with the PA-46 airframe.  It is inherently stable – take your hands off the yoke and see what happens (not much of anything). Deploy full flaps and the pitch attitude barely changes. Burn off 80 gallons of fuel, calculate your landing CG and discover…it’s virtually the same as when you took off!

 

Simply put, there is no better combination of value and performance in this end of the market. But you’ll buy it because of the cabin size. Give us a call and let us show you first-hand.