The Piper M600 is not the fastest single-engine turboprop you can buy. It is not the longest-ranged. But since 2020 it has offered something no other aircraft in its class can match: a certified autonomous landing system that will fly the aircraft to an airport and land it unaided if the pilot is incapacitated. That feature — sold as the HALO Safety System with Garmin Autoland — has become the defining reason many buyers choose an M600/SLS over every other single-engine turboprop on the market.
Our database covers 97 completed Piper M600 transactions. Here is what the data tells you about price, the M600 versus M600/SLS decision, and what this aircraft actually delivers.
The M600 is a six-seat pressurised single-engine turboprop built by Piper Aircraft at its Vero Beach, Florida factory. It is the top of Piper's M-series line, sitting above the piston-powered M350. Production began in 2015 (with deliveries from 2016), making it a modern design from the start — not a legacy airframe updated for current buyers.
The engine is the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42A, producing 600 shaft horsepower. The airframe is pressurised to a differential that allows a 6,000-foot cabin altitude at the aircraft's 30,000-foot ceiling. This matters: at 30,000 feet in a pressurised cabin, a solo pilot and five passengers can fly in shirtsleeve comfort without supplemental oxygen, covering the kind of 700–1,000 nm missions that would require an airline connection in anything smaller.
Key specifications:
In practical mission terms: the M600 will carry four passengers roughly 900 nm in three and a half hours with IFR reserves, at a true airspeed that makes most Part 91 turboprop flying genuinely productive. It is sized for the owner-pilot who does not want or need a two-crew jet and wants to fly themselves rather than charter.
→ Browse current Piper M600 listings on Sprinkle
Piper introduced the M600/SLS variant in 2020. "SLS" stands for Smooth Landing System, but the defining feature is more significant than the name suggests: the HALO (High Altitude Life-saving Operational) Safety System, which incorporates Garmin's Emergency Autoland capability.
If the pilot becomes incapacitated — through hypoxia, cardiac event, or any other incapacitation — the HALO system automatically takes control of the aircraft, selects an appropriate diversion airport (filtered by runway length, weather, and traffic), flies the approach, and lands the aircraft without pilot input. Transponder codes, cabin and cockpit announcements, and ground contact are all automated. The system can be triggered by a button reachable by a passenger, or it can activate automatically if the pilot stops interacting with the controls for a sustained period.
This is not a theoretical safety feature. It represents a genuine qualitative difference between the pre-2020 M600 and the M600/SLS, and the used market prices it accordingly.
Beyond Autoland, the SLS also adds:
For a solo owner-pilot, particularly one who regularly flies IFR in IMC, the SLS upgrade addresses the most serious single-pilot risk scenario that exists. That is why SLS-equipped aircraft command a consistent premium — and why the "which variant" question is the first one to answer when shopping this type.
Our 97 completed transactions span the full production life of the M600, from 2016 model years through to 2023. The headline numbers:
Price is strongly correlated with model year and SLS status. Here is what the transaction data shows by year of manufacture:
| Model year | Price range in our data | SLS available? |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | $1,995,000 – $2,650,000 | No |
| 2017 | $2,150,000 – $3,125,000 | No |
| 2018 | $2,295,000 – $3,082,000 | No |
| 2019 | $2,650,000 – $2,695,000 | No |
| 2020 | $2,750,000 – $3,200,000 | Yes (SLS from mid-2020) |
| 2021 | $2,850,000 – $3,500,000 | Yes |
| 2022 | $3,519,764 – $3,750,000 | Yes |
| 2023 | $3,375,000 – $3,990,000 | Yes |
New M600/SLS aircraft are currently listing around $4.4 million. A 2016 base M600 with 1,600–1,700 hours can be found in the $2.1–$2.3M range. The spread between the oldest available aircraft and a new one is therefore roughly $2.1 million — a meaningful decision point, given the SLS variant only exists from 2020 onwards.
One observation from the data: the M600 trades in 159 days on average. This is faster than the Eclipse 500 (235 days) but slower than mainstream complex piston singles. The buyer pool is smaller than for a Cirrus SR22, but serious — and well-funded.
→ See the full Piper M600 transaction history and price guide on Sprinkle
The PT6A-42A is one of the most reliable engines in general aviation, with a time-between-overhaul limit of 3,500 hours and an outstanding field reliability record. Part of what you are paying for in a PT6-powered aircraft is the depth of the maintenance network — PT6-trained shops exist at most sizeable airports in North America and Europe.
Fuel burn of 37–46 US gallons per hour at cruise puts the M600 firmly in turboprop territory: more than twice the fuel cost of a fast piston single, significantly less than a light jet. At $7 per gallon Jet-A, you are looking at $260–$320 per flight hour in fuel alone.
Total operating costs, including fuel, engine reserves, maintenance, and annual fixed costs (insurance, hangar, training), typically run $800–$1,000 per flight hour at 300–400 annual hours. Fixed annual costs for hangar, insurance, and recurrent training alone will generally exceed $150,000 per year regardless of utilisation.
Piper's M600 requires recurrent type training. Multiple simulator training providers offer M600 programmes, and insurance carriers require current training for coverage. Budget for this from day one — both the time and the cost.
Current active listings on Sprinkle show a healthy M600 market with aircraft across the full age range:
The gap between a 2016 non-SLS aircraft and a 2020 SLS is roughly $750,000–$850,000 in the current market. Whether that premium is worth it depends on how you plan to use the aircraft. If you fly primarily VFR in day VMC conditions at lower altitudes, the SLS systems are largely irrelevant. If you are a single pilot routinely flying IFR at FL250–FL300, often without a co-pilot, the HALO system addresses a real and serious risk in a way nothing else currently available does.
→ Browse Piper M600/SLS listings on Sprinkle
The Piper M600 targets a specific buyer: an owner-pilot who wants pressurised turboprop performance for 600–1,200 nm single-pilot missions, without the cost and complexity of a light jet or the two-crew requirements of more capable turboprops. It competes most directly with the TBM series (900/940/960) and the Pilatus PC-12 NG.
Against the TBM, the M600 offers a lower acquisition price and lower fixed costs — but the TBM 940 and 960 cruise faster, have more range, and in the case of the 940 offer their own autoflight/safety systems. Against the Pilatus PC-12, the M600 is more affordable to acquire and operate, but the PC-12 carries more payload and offers a larger cabin.
The M600/SLS's HALO system is currently a differentiator unique to this aircraft. Neither the TBM nor the PC-12 offers a comparable autonomous landing capability as standard, which means for solo owner-pilots who weight this risk seriously, the M600/SLS currently has no direct equivalent.
If your missions are primarily coastal hops or regional routes up to 900 nm, you fly regularly without a co-pilot, and you want to buy new or near-new at below $4 million, the M600/SLS is one of the most compelling propositions in single-engine turboprop aviation today.