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| STANDARD DATA (Extra 400): Seats: 6; Gross weight: 4,409 lbs.; Empty weight: 2,974 lbs.; Fuel capacity: 124 (gals.); Engine: 475 shp Continental TSIOL-550-C. PERFORMANCE: Max cruise: 235 kts.; Initial climb rate: 1,400 fpm; Service ceiling: 25,000 ft.; Range: 2,100 nm; Takeoff distance: 1,475 ft.; Landing distance: 1,000 ft. |
German designer Walter Extra ruled the aerobatic aircraft world with his Extra 200 and 300 series of low-wing singles, but in the late 1990s, he began to work on a larger idea—the Extra 400. The mostly composite six-seater was imagined to be direct competition to the Piper Malibu and other cabin-class singles. Pressurization differential was 5.5 psi, providing an 8,000-foot cabin at 25,000 feet, and max gross was set at just above 4,400 pounds (or 1,999 kilograms because users of the European airway system pay progressively higher charges to operate aircraft weighing 2,000 kilograms or more). Power was supplied by the water-cooled Continental Voyager TSIOL-550-C engine. Despite the rugged, high-tech German engineering, only a handful of Extra 400s have made their way across the Atlantic to the American market. In parallel to the piston model, the company also developed a turbine version of the super-single, with a compact 450 shp Rolls-Royce/Allison engine.
