Of all the sub-segments of the general aviation market, the turboprop field is the only one not experiencing a marked increase of new development. At airshow after airshow, very light jets, personal single-engine jets, more powerful piston singles and light sport airplanes have garnered the greatest amount of attention. Turboprops, although one of the more efficient breed of aircraft, are not the shining stars of most product development departments.
The bright spots among new turboprop designs are Quest’s Kodiak, the only new clean-sheet turboprop recently FAA certified, and projects inspired by the amateur-built airplane community, such as Epic’s sleek Dynasty and Comp Air’s massive Model 12. None of the traditional OEMs like Cessna, EADS Socata, Hawker Beechcraft, Pilatus, Piper or Piaggio has revealed a new turboprop design. Hawker Beechcraft did announce two new derivative King Air models earlier this year and Pilatus is near certification of its upgraded PC-12, but other than those projects, activities in the turboprop world are fairly static.