Extra 500

The Extra EA-500 is a six-seat, single-engine, pressurized turboprop designed and built by Extra Aircraft of Dinslaken, Germany — the same company founded by aerobatic champion Walter Extra and famous for the Extra 200/300/330 unlimited aerobatic airplanes. The 500 is about as far from the aerobatic lineage as possible: it is a slick, composite, cabin-class cross-country machine aimed at owner-flown businesspeople who wanted Meridian/TBM capability without the Meridian/TBM price tag.

Developed as a turboprop evolution of the piston Extra EA-400 (a pressurized Continental TSIOL-550-powered 6-seater), the EA-500 swapped the troublesome liquid-cooled piston for a Rolls-Royce 250-B17F/2 turboprop flat-rated at 450 shp driving a 5-blade MT reversible composite propeller. First flight was 26 April 2002; EASA type certification followed on 16 July 2004 under TCDS EASA.A.011, and FAA validation came considerably later in 2013.

Production was tiny. Fewer than 30 airframes were built before Extra Aircraft ended production in 2015 and sold the EA-400/500 design rights to the Chinese firm Jiangsu A-Star Industry Co., Ltd. in 2014. The result: a technically interesting, capable, and strikingly attractive airplane that is now a textbook "orphan" in the GA market. The airframe is all composite, the cabin is pressurized to 5.5 psi (good for a ~10,000 ft cabin at FL250), the gear retracts, and the airplane cruises in the 215–225 KTAS band on roughly 27–31 gph of Jet-A.

Who flies them? A handful of European owner-pilots, a sliver of US owners who appreciate the rarity and are willing to accept orphan-parts risk, and the occasional demonstrator/charter operation. It is not an airplane you buy if you want a reliable service footprint — it is an airplane you buy because nothing else combines single-engine turbine, 6 seats, pressurization, and composite aesthetics at its price point.

See Business Travel, Cross-Country Flying, and Aircraft Valuation Methodology for the mission frames this airplane lives in.

Effectively a single production variant. Minor running changes across the ~25–28 airframes produced include avionics updates (early Avidyne Entegra panels transitioned to Garmin G1000-equipped late airframes), interior upgrades, and a long-range fuel option bringing usable fuel to approximately 176 US gallons.

Book cruise is 226 KTAS at 12,000 ft, 90% power. In the real world, owners report 215–222 KTAS at FL200–FL240 on 27–29 gph, which is the altitude band where the 250-B17F/2 is most efficient. Critical altitude of the flat-rated 450 shp engine is about 16,000 ft — above that, available power drops, and the airplane's ceiling of 25,000 ft is a hard gas-based limit more than a performance limit.

Climb performance at MGTOW is 1,335 fpm at sea level, decaying normally with altitude. Direct climb to FL240 takes about 18–20 minutes.

The Extra 500 is not a speed demon by turboprop standards (a Meridian will run 250 KTAS, a TBM 700 260+), but it is faster than any piston single and burns less fuel than either PT6-powered competitor. It is also notably quieter inside than the Meridian, thanks to the 5-blade MT prop and composite airframe.

Handling is widely praised — this is a Walter Extra airplane, so the control harmony is good, stall behavior is benign, and the airplane is pleasant hand-flown. Approach speeds of 90–100 KIAS are manageable at small-field runways.

With 1,605 lb useful load, 176 gal usable fuel (1,195 lb), and 6 seats at 200 lb per seat (1,200 lb people):

Full seats (6 × 200 lb = 1,200 lb): Leaves 405 lb for fuel = ~60 gal usable = approximately 2.0 hours endurance = ~450 nm still-air range. This is a 4-seat-useful airplane at best when you want legs.

4 adults + baggage (4 × 200 + 200 lb bags = 1,000 lb): Leaves 605 lb = ~90 gal = ~3.2 hours = ~700 nm. Realistic business travel loadout.

2 adults + baggage (550 lb): Full fuel, 1,600 nm range, 4.9-hour endurance — the marketing brochure loadout.

Ferry (pilot only, full fuel): ~1,700+ nm range, ~8 hour endurance with reserves trimmed.

The payload-range envelope is honest for the class — comparable to a Meridian and somewhat tighter than a PC-12 or TBM. The airplane is fundamentally a 2–4 person pressurized turbine cross-country machine; treating it as a 6-seat family hauler requires short legs.

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Related pages: Business Travel · Cross-Country Flying · Maintenance Ecosystem · GA Insurance Underwriting · Aircraft Valuation Methodology

Business Travel (8/10): The design target. Pressurized, fast, long-legged, 6 seats, single-pilot IFR, Jet-A simplicity. The score is held below 9 only by the orphan-parts risk, which threatens dispatch reliability for a mission where schedule matters.

Cross-Country (9/10): 1,600 nm NBAA range, FL240 capability, 220 KTAS, and a pressurized cabin make this a genuinely strong XC platform. The only knock is fuel stop network — Jet-A is universal, but the 25,000 ft ceiling means you can't top weather as easily as a TBM/PC-12.

Flight Training (1/10): Wrong airplane. Turbine, pressurized, complex, rare, expensive.

Backcountry (1/10): Low-wing, composite, retractable, no soft-field kit, and orphan parts. Do not take this anywhere that doesn't have a paved runway and a fire truck.

Aerobatics (1/10): The Walter Extra irony. Despite the family name, this airplane is strictly Utility category at best.

Cargo Hauling (3/10): 1,605 lb useful load is decent, but cabin access, door size, and insurance concerns limit this role. Not a freighter.

Local Fun Flying (2/10): Too expensive and too rare to burn on $300 hamburgers.

Surveying (4/10): Pressurization, endurance, and high altitude capability are useful, but orphan support, no hardpoints, and limited camera provisions make purpose-built platforms better.

Early EA-500 airframes shipped with Avidyne Entegra PFD/MFD suites paired with dual Garmin GNS 430/530 navigators, S-TEC 55X autopilots, and Avidyne TAS/traffic and weather. These early panels are functional but increasingly dated.

Late production airframes (2011+) shifted to Garmin G1000 integrated avionics with GFC 700 autopilot, GWX weather radar, and full synthetic vision. G1000-equipped examples command a significant premium on the used market.

Panel upgrades are technically feasible (G500 TXi, GFC 600) but complicated by the rarity of the airframe — any STC work typically requires one-off field approval since the fleet is too small to justify certified STC development. Budget accordingly; see Avionics Pricing Reference.

There is essentially no aftermarket STC ecosystem for the EA-500. With fewer than 30 airframes, no third-party shop has invested in developing STCs. Owners wanting modifications generally pursue one-off field approvals, which are expensive and slow.

Known options:

• Long-range fuel (factory option, ~176 gal usable)
• G1000 retrofit on early airframes (field approval basis)
• Interior refurbishment (done at Extra in Germany historically, now at a limited number of European composite shops)

This is the section that disqualifies the airplane for most buyers.

Parts availability: Poor. Extra Aircraft in Germany maintains a residual parts operation, but the supply chain is thin. The 2014 transfer of design rights to Jiangsu A-Star has not materially improved US parts access. Airframe-specific components can take weeks to months to source.

Mechanic familiarity: Rare. There is no mechanic in the US who routinely turns wrenches on EA-500s. The handful of operators with experience are concentrated around the original US dealer networks and a few European shops. A&Ps with Rolls-Royce 250 turbine experience are available (helicopter world), but EA-500-specific airframe knowledge is nearly nonexistent.

Annual inspection cost: Typically $18,000–$35,000 depending on squawks and availability of parts. Budget higher for a pre-buy.

Total annual operating cost (assuming 150 hr/yr, fuel, maintenance reserves, insurance, hangar, training): approximately $80,000–$110,000 per year, making this comparable to a high-time Meridian but with worse dispatch reliability.

Expensive items to watch:

• Hot section inspection (~$75k)
• Full engine overhaul (~$275k)
• Prop overhaul (5-blade MT composite): $25k–$40k
• Pressurization certification after seal replacement
• Any landing gear component replacement (limited stock)

See Maintenance Ecosystem for context.

Used EA-500 pricing has been remarkably sticky given the rarity, ranging roughly $800k to $1.4M as of 2024–2026 listings, with typical transactions around $1.0–1.2M. New list price in the final production years was approximately $1.7M.

Key value drivers:

• Engine time to overhaul: The 250-B17F/2 carries a 3,500 hr TBO. Hot section and overhaul events are six-figure expenses; engines with <1,500 hr SMOH command strong premiums.
• Avionics: G1000-equipped airframes command a $150k–$250k premium over early Avidyne Entegra airframes.
• Total time: Low-time airframes (<1,000 hr) are common given how little the fleet flies, and they are valued accordingly.
• Pressurization cycle count: Important for any pressurized airframe; high-cycle examples should be discounted.
• Provenance and maintenance history: Given the orphan status, an airplane with continuous documented Extra-authorized maintenance is worth materially more than one with gaps.

Valuation methodology and engine-time adjustments follow Aircraft Valuation Methodology.

The EA-500 has not generated a high AD volume simply because the fleet is too small to produce statistically meaningful failure patterns in FAA/EASA databases. Known issue areas reported by operators:

• Parts orphaning: The dominant concern. Airframe-specific parts (landing gear components, pressurization system components, interior, flight control bellcranks) are supplied only through Extra Aircraft's residual parts operation, which has been degraded since the 2014 sale of design rights. Lead times of weeks to months for non-standard parts are common.
• Rolls-Royce 250 engine: The M250 is a known, mature engine widely used in helicopters and the Allison/RR 250 turboprop conversions. Engine support is NOT the orphan problem — parts and overhauls are available at multiple MROs. However, the 250-B17F/2 is at the hot end of the 250 family and hot-section inspections and overhauls are expensive.
• Composite airframe: Repair of damage (hangar rash, hail, gear mishap) requires a composite-qualified shop familiar with the specific layup. These shops are few and geographically concentrated in Europe.
• Pressurization system seals and check valves: Routine wear items for any pressurized single, but replacement parts can be hard to source.

Pre-buy inspection should be performed by a shop with specific EA-500 experience — ideally one that has worked on the airframe before. In the US, this short list is very short.

See Maintenance Ecosystem for broader context on orphan-type risk.

Insurance is the second-most-quoted pain point after parts, and it is material. Turboprop singles already sit in an expensive category (see GA Insurance Underwriting), and the EA-500 carries additional risk premiums:

• Single-engine turbine underwriting base: elevated
• Orphan type premium: +20–40% versus comparable Meridian/TBM rates
• Small fleet = no statistical loss experience base, so underwriters price conservatively
• Mandatory initial type-specific training is hard to find (no formal SimCom/FlightSafety program exists for EA-500 as it does for Meridian/TBM)

Typical hull insurance runs $18k–$28k annually depending on pilot experience, hull value, and coverage limits. Low-time pilots or pilots transitioning from piston singles will face significant training and experience requirements, plus an open-pilot warranty that is likely to exclude casual renters entirely.

Liability-only coverage is available but defeats the point of insuring a $1M+ airframe.