Press Release

Issued by Daher Aerospace.

October 1, 2012

The TBM Owners and Pilots Association (TBMOPA) – the user organization for Daher-Socata's TBM 700 and TBM 850 very fast turboprops – reported an audience of 40 participants in La Baule, France for its European chapter's yearly convention held on September 14-16.

A total of 19 TBM pilots landed their aircraft at St. Nazaire International Airport, bringing 40 participants from Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom for three days of meetings and social events.

The weekend included a full day of technical presentations with Claude Lelaie, honorary president of TBMOPA Europe, as a guest speaker about his experience as the A380 chief test pilot. Participants also visited the Airbus manufacturing facility at St. Nazaire. They were lodged at La Bretesche Resort near La Baule, which is one of the top-rated golf resorts in South Brittany – located on the Atlantic coast of France.

"The establishment of TBMOPA Europe as a sister organization to TBMOPA in the U.S. demonstrates our organization's commitment to TBM owners in Europe," stated David Fabry, the President of TBMOPA Europe. "We identified 46 owner-flown airplanes among the 72 civilian TBM 700s and TBM 850s in service throughout Europe. TBMOPA membership brings their owners greater benefits through our European organization, so we anticipate attracting a wider audience in the coming years."

Fabry added that the growing success of TBMOPA Europe's meetings, and the camaraderie resulting from this third gathering, provide a solid foundation for its next event, which will take place May 17-19, 2013.

Stéphane Mayer, Daher-Socata's President and CEO, said the company fully supports the TBMOPA association and TBM owners in Europe – as it does in the United States. "Europe is the world's second area in terms of TBM fleet size," he said. "Knowing and understanding our customers better is key to our strategy, and the quality of the dialogue with the owners associations is essential to us. We also enjoyed participating in this very nice meeting."

Nicolas Chabbert, Senior Vice President of the Daher-Socata Airplane Division, explained that the 2012 TBMOPA convention underscored the owner association's excellent working relationship with Daher-Socata as the TBM aircraft manufacturer. He also noted that Daher-Socata's customer support was given high marks by the TBM community, rewarding the company's continuous efforts.

"The TBMOPA European convention's growing interest demonstrates that our customers on both sides of the Atlantic are seeking opportunities to meet and talk about their common passion: flying the TBM," Chabbert concluded. "Thanks to them, the TBM very fast turboprop is now a proven aircraft, logging more than 985,000 flight hours in a global fleet of more than 600 TBM 850s and TBM 700s."