With the snow capping the Pyrenées to the south, my last visit to Tarbes took place on a chilly day in November 2021. I was meeting up with Margrit Waltz, who readied a new TBM 940 for its ferry flight across the ocean.
At the time, I didn’t realize that the next TBM had already moved onto the production line, the serial number (SN) that would become the first TBM 960. That model debuted in April 2022, and I had a chance to fly it from Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo down to Daher’s then HQ in south Florida, at KPMP, Pompano Beach.
Now, nearly four years later, Daher debuts its latest, the TBM 980, and what looks like a similar aircraft has changed significantly under its gorgeous skin.
Similiarly, Daher may look like the same company if you just glance at the buildings collected on the ramp at LFBT, but so much has changed. The company has three locations now in Florida—at KSUA where the TBM will soon be built on a new line, and at KFLL where the new U.S. headquarters is located. And the Kodiak’s home base in Sandpoint, Idaho, now churns out Kodial 900s as well as the 100 Series III.
And…just in time to kickoff 2026, the TBM 980 takes the stage.
The sixth 900-series turboprop launched by Daher since it took possession of the aircraft model line in 2014, the TBM 980 integrates the Garmin G3000 PRIME that the avionics OEM debuted in late 2024 on the competing Pilatus PC-12 Pro. But this is more than a makeup game. The G3000 PRIME replaces the previous G3000 with three 14-inch touchscreens and app-based functionality to evolve the flight deck experience to match what most pilots carry in their pockets.
The first integrated flight deck into the TBM series took off when Garmin and then-SOCATA signed the contract to put the G1000 into the TBM 850 at NBAA 2005. It was the beginning of the end of “federated” avionics—the separate boxes that worked in concert that we used to know so well.
Twenty years and 1,000 TBMs later, the flight deck now integrates into the pilot’s life. “When you pick up an iPad, you don’t read a manual, you pick it up and use it intuitively,” said Nicolas Chabbert, Daher Aircraft CEO, at a livestream event on Thursday, January 15, in the evening from Daher’s main hangar in Tarbes. The PRIME drives closer to that mark than any flight deck thus far.
The presets are contextual, allowing for the phase of flight to drive them. And that’s just the beginning. There’s a joystick to aid in selection, rather than a button for scrolling, and the ability to check in on the airplane remotely via Garmin PlaneSync.
Guillaume Remigi, test pilot, said at the event that the biggest surprise he discovered during flight test was how much he appreciated the touchscreens. Rather than being a novelty, they became natural and intuitive, he found.
Another operational improvement sure to be well-received by pilots is the ability to operate without adding Prist to the fuel. The Prist-free option had to be validated in hot and humid weather conditions, so the test pilots related during the livestream how they flew to Agadir, Morocco, leaving the aircraft outside overnight, experiencing temperatures ranging from +40C to -50C in the desert, and up to 90 percent humidity on the coast.
An enhanced interior features a new passenger display through which the folks in the back can see flight data… Chabbert likened it to Concorde, though perhaps not into the Mach numbers!
The new TBM will be Starlink Mini-capable, and to preview this, Daher’s Michel Adam de Villiers and longtime TBM pilot and superfan Dr. Ian Fries called in during the event from in-flight over Florida. Fries is the first publicly announced customer to purchase the TBM 980, which will be SN 1634, ready in March—Number 6 for Dr. Fries. That said, SN 1627 and SN 1628 are already poised to depart for their first customers.
Frankly, I can’t wait to get my hands on the new yoke—and on the touchscreens—either.
