Aircraft model
SOCATA TB20
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The Socata TB-20 Trinidad is a French four-to-five seat retractable with gull-wing doors that lift upwards, a wide cabin and a deliberately modern look. It cruises at 160 knots on 250 hp with 86 gallons giving close to 1,000 nautical miles, and it is far more common in Europe than in the United States. The engine and airframe did not change over the run. The one step a buyer meets is the Generation Two, or GT, of 2000: a raised carbon-fibre cabin roof with about three inches more headroom, windows with a fifth more glass, a much larger baggage door and a Bendix/King panel with a digital autopilot as standard, at the cost of roughly 230 lb of useful load. the registry carries the GT under its own string, TB20GT, so an aircraft recorded as a plain TB20 is a pre-2000 aeroplane; nothing in between is tied to a year.
The doors and the cabin are what sell it: getting in and out is easier than any low-wing competitor and the interior feels like a car of its era rather than a 1960s aeroplane. It is comfortable and stable and makes a good instrument platform. The reservations are support and familiarity: the American fleet is small, parts come from Daher in France with the delays and exchange-rate exposure that implies, and fewer mechanics have worked on one. Buy with a type club connection and a shop that has seen the type.
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Put SOCATA TB20 side by side with up to two other models.
- SOCATA TB20
What it is
| Seats | 5 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Lycoming IO-540-C4D5D |
| Horsepower | 250 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | FAR23 |
| Production start | 1984 |
| Production end | 2002 |
| Endorsements required | complex;high-performance |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 160 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 1,000 nm |
| Service ceiling | 20,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,200 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 54 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 1,800 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 1,600 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 5 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 1,286 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 770 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 3,086 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,800 lb |
| Usable fuel | 86 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 14 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $147,690 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $280,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 2,000 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $46,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $66,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 42 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 24 |
| Median year built | 1990.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 0 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 0 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 3 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 12.5 · thin base (low)3 |
| Airworthiness directives | 10 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 1 |
| Rate confidence | low |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 24 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 24 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 24 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 3-4 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | —3 |
| Support | 1.4 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 0.8 of 105 |
- Accident record: class median 28.36 · 202 models in class.
- Severity: class median 11.65.
- Access: class median 767.75.
- Support: class median 141.5.
- Liquidity: class median 19.57.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories.