I was having a discussion with some friends about general aviation aircraft with cabin-class seating. We were discussing cruise speeds and there were some "shop talk opinions" flying around about what the fastest single-engine turboprop in general aviation is. I'm curious to know who holds the title.
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3$\begingroup$ Fastest single-engine prop? P-51 Mustang, of course! Oh, turbo prop, GA, cabin seating. sigh... $\endgroup$ – FreeMan Oct 15 '15 at 15:46
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The TBM 900 holds the title of fastest single engine turboprop for civilian planes. It has a top cruise speed of 330 knots at FL280.
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In civil GA aircraft, TBM 900 is the fastest one with a top cruise speed of 330 knots (at 28000 ft).
Source: flightclub.jalopnik.com
However, if one considers all single engined turboprop aircraft, the fastest is the Pilatus PC-21, with a top speed of 370 knots.
"Pilatus pc-21 hb-hzc lands arp" by Adrian Pingstone (Arpingstone) - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.
answered Oct 15 '15 at 15:54
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A one-off homebuilt stole the title from the PC21, the 850SHP two seat modified Lancair Legacy "Turbulence" cruises around 375-380 knots.
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The Lancair Evolution comes to mind coming in at 300Kts
(source)
The Pilatus PC-21 comes in at 370Kts but those are mainly military training planes so it may not fall under the GA space.
