The Extra EA-500 is a six-seat single-engined high wingturboprop aircraft designed by the Extra Aircraft company. During 2015 a decision was made to end production.
Design and development
Started by Walter Extra, the company has been manufacturing aerobatic airplanes almost exclusively with their latest products being the Extra EA-300 series. The company introduced the Extra EA-400in 2001. This is a cross-country airplane with many exclusive features including carbon fiber construction, pressurized cabin, high strutless wing, and seating for six. The EA-500 was introduced as an alternative version of the EA-400 with the piston engine replaced by a Rolls-Royce Model 250-B17F/2 turboprop yielding, weighing, and driving a 5 bladed propeller. This engine is widely used in small helicopters and was designed to have good fuel efficiency at lower altitudes. This engine's critical altitude is 16,000 feet. However, the Rolls-Royce Model 250 is very light and small at the expense of power. The maximum cruise speed is 225 kn at 12000 feet. The most recent changes to the aircraft come from Avidyne with their latest glass avionics, Entegra R9. The high wing design was used for a number of reasons, including no wing spar in the cabin and in the event of a dual fuel pump failure, fuel flow is helped by gravity. The EA-500's cabin is spacious, 55 inches across by 49 inches tall; also the windshield has a fast taper, which wraps up around the two pilots. The EA-500 has a T-tail instead of a regular tail to keep the elevator surfaces out of the prop wash; therefore minimizing pitch changes due to power changes. Like the Extra EA-400, the EA-500 is made of mostly composite materials, that mostly being carbon fiber. The company was planning to produce the EA-500 for the United States market, and was investigating plans to assemble the aircraft in the US. The EA500 type certificate is currently held by SST Flugtechnik, which provides customer support to the current EA400 and EA400-500 operators. In 2014 the company sold the design rights to the EA400 and 500 to the Chinese company Jiangsu A-Star Industry Co., Ltd. Extra embarked on training the engineers from Jiangsu A-Star while still retaining the type certificate and providing parts to support to the existing fleet. The EA-500's approach speed of 90-120 knots and turbine power makes it able to land on 2,000 ft runways. The EA-500 is also cheaper than its competitors, mainly the SOCATA TBM 850 and Pilatus PC-12.
