Extra EA-500

The Extra EA-500 is a six-seat, single-engined, high-wing turboprop aircraft designed by Extra Aircraft as an alternative to the piston-powered EA-400, replacing that engine with a Rolls-Royce Model 250-B17F/2 turboprop of 450 horsepower driving a five-bladed propeller. Like the EA-400 it is built mostly from carbon fibre, with a pressurised cabin, a T-tail to keep the elevator out of the propeller wash and a high wing that leaves no spar in the cabin. Its maximum speed is about 435 km/h and its approach speed lets it use runways of around 2,000 feet. A decision to end production was made in 2015; the type certificate is now held by SST Flugtechnik, and the design rights to the EA-400 and EA-500 were sold in 2014 to Jiangsu A-Star.