For This

TRINI DAD
It Was All In The Bag

DOING
BUSINESS ALL
OVER THE
SOUTHWEST
CAME
NATURALLY
FOR THE
TURBOCHARGED
SOCATA
l
By Bill Cox Photography
By James Lawrence

68 Pilot Journal Winter 2002 69


T
here has never been much
question that American
piston-powered, general-
aviation aircraft dominate
the world market, comprising well
over 80 percent of the inventory. In
fact, for nearly the last 20 years, there
has been only one foreign piston
aircraft design that has represented
any significant competitive threat to
American products—Socata.
Jeff Herold manufactures and sells
an extremely popular upscale golf tra-
vel bag known as the Club Glove. As
president and CEO of Orange County,
Calif.-based West Coast Trends, he
70 Pilot Journal
visits a huge array of golf courses, pro
shops and retailers across the South-
west. It became clear to Herold that
the personalized marketing of his
one-of-a-kind bag could easily be
enhanced by flying his own airplane
over his 580,000-square-mile territory.
So he learned to fly in 1997,
training in a 180-hp Skyhawk SP.
Immediately after earning his license,
Herold began to shop the used-plane
market, looking for exactly the right
aircraft for his specialized applica-
tions. He considered a number of tur-
bocharged airplanes for his business
travel around the 11 western states,
“With the Trinidad, I can
be in the air on my own
schedule, usually within
30 minutes of leaving the
office, and I can cover
quite a bit more territory
than I could before. I can
fly directly to the most
convenient airport rather
than to an airline hub 30
to 100 miles away.”
The Socata Trinidad GT is
custom-made for the high
country of the western United
States, thanks in part to
turbocharging. Socata put a
”set-it-and-forget-it“ blower on
the TIO-540, allowing the engine
to develop all 250 horses all
the way up into the flight
levels. This airplane features
custom paint, new retractable
footsteps and a larger door to
improve access.
 with emphasis on reasonably fast,
low-wing models. Compressed power
was pretty much mandatory, as many
of Herold’s customers are in the
high country.
The then-new Commander 114TC
was a strong contender, but there were
few Turbo Commanders available at
the time. He also was impressed by the
spacious Piper Saratoga TC, but in
at least one respect, the airplane’s size
worked against it: Herold didn’t feel
he’d have enough application for
six seats.
In 1998, Herold finally settled on
an early (but still jaunty) Trinidad
TC—in fact, the very first 1986 pro-
duction model. He stepped up to a new
TB-21 Trinidad TC earlier this year.
“It was obvious that flying would be
a big time-saver,” says Herold, “but I
had no idea how much. Some places I
used to visit by car simply because
access was so inconvenient by airline
are now within easy reach of the air-
plane. With the Trinidad, I can be in
the air on my own schedule, usually
within 30 minutes of leaving the
office, and I can cover quite a bit more
territory than I could before. I can fly
directly to the most convenient air-
port rather than to an airline hub 30
to 100 miles away. I often wind up
beating the airlines over distances
greater than you might imagine when
you consider door-to-door time.”
Another advantage of the Trinidad

The new Trinidads come with a

choice of either a Honeywell
Bendix/King KMD 550 multi-function
display combined with a KLN 94
color GPS or a Garmin/Honeywell
hybrid that sports dual 430s.

00 Pilot Journal W i n t e r 2 0 0 2 73

Not only is it one of the widest and most
comfortable of the singles flying, but the
Trinidad GT also is certified to carry up to
five passengers, not just four. Leave
the fifth seat empty, and you can add the
saved weight to the aircraft’s already
formidable payload.
74 Pilot Journal
is that it gives Herold the option of
carrying an extra person or two plus
baggage for roughly the same cost.
Like the normally aspirated Trinidad,
the TC sports a max gross weight of
3,086 pounds (1,400 kilograms for
European airways billing purposes),
leaving a typical full fuel plus three
souls’ useful load. His trips are usually
2001 EADS Socata Trinidad TB 21 TC
Base Price: $391,000
Engine Make/Model: Textron Lycoming TIO-540-AB1AD
Horsepower: 250
Max Cruise Speed (knots): 190/75% power/20,000 ft.
Max Range (w/reserve) (nm): 1000
Best Rate Of Climb (sea level) (fpm): 1126
Certified Ceiling (ft.): 25,000
Max Payload (lbs.): 1226
hassle-free. “I visit plenty of golf
courses, and the airplane will easily
swallow three people and three sets of
clubs without problems, though I do
have to leave some fuel in the truck.”
Perhaps best of all, according to
Herold, is the convenience of doing it
yourself. “I fall into the class of ‘profes-
sional traveler,’” says Herold, “and the
Trinidad makes the whole process so
much easier than any of the alterna-
tives. There are no airline reservations
to be made, no traffic jams, no parking
backups, no check-in lines, no secu-
rity scans, and we know for certain our
luggage will arrive at the same time we
do and at the same airport.”
Like many busy executives, Herold
appreciates quality, and for that rea-
son, he prefers to operate into the
top FBOs on most airports, primarily
Signatures, Millionaires and Airflites
that specialize in full service. “If you
call ahead (or sometimes, even if you
don’t), they’ll usually have a rental car
parked at the curb, and you can put in
your fuel order, any special requests
such as oxygen or other services and
be on your way in 15 minutes or less.”
Herold chose a Socata Trinidad
partially because it fit him. “I’m 6’ 4”,
and that means I don’t fit into most
airplanes,” he explains. “The Trinidad
has a larger, more comfortable cabin
than the majority of comparable mod-
els. In fact, that’s exactly the reason I
stepped up to a new airplane for
2001.” Socata redesigned the interior
this year for more head and leg room,
and pilots like Herold have a special
appreciation for the change.
For Herold, turbocharging was a
necessity for operation into the West’s
high country, where summer density
altitudes often can reach five figures.
The Trinidad TC’s TIO-540-AB1AD
is a well-proven engine, essentially
the same powerplant used in pairs
by Piper on the Turbo Aztec back in
the ’70s. Turbocharging is automatic,
with the turbo compensating for tem-
perature and altitude through both a
density controller and a differential
pressure controller.
Indeed, all the Socata designs have
long capitalized on ultimate simplicity.
Aerospatiale recognized early on that
transparent operation would help
endear their airplanes to more pilots,
and a set-it-and-forget-it turbocharger
plus a luxurious, people-friendly cabin
were almost guaranteed to win minds
and credit lines. To that end, Socata
configured the Trinidad/Trinidad TC
with a near-automotive interior, closer
in design and execution to the dimen-
sions and materials of a plush Peugeot
Winter 2002 75
 After shopping a number of other aircraft,
Herold declared the Trinidad a winner by
a length—the length of leg room, head
room and the comfortable, wide Socata
cabin. Does he ever second-guess his
decision? Not really. Herold is now flying
his second Trinidad.
76 Pilot Journal
TRINIDAD
sedan than a 190-knot light aircraft.
Herold has improved upon the air-
plane’s standard talents with a few
mods of his own. Herold Airlines has
DVD screens velcroed to the front
seat backs so rear-seat passengers can
watch movies in flight, much like the
current tricks on Boeing 777s. Bose
headsets up front and Sennheisers in
back provide stereo sound for playing
CDs, and a custom leather interior
helps everyone arrive relaxed and
ready for work or play.
Meanwhile, the captain flies
behind a flight deck that’s nearly as
modern as an airliner’s. A King KLN-
94 moving-map GPS system presents
a large, easy-to-read, real-world track
of position with reference to all the
standard aviation checkpoints, plus
roads, rivers and other major land-
marks. The autopilot features pro-
gramming functions that allow rate-
of-climb and altitude preselect and
switching, and instrumentation is as
obvious as is possible to make it.
Now an instrument-rated pilot with
450 hours, Herold’s association with
his Trinidad has allowed him to add
yet another product to his line: high-
end, custom eyewear from Scheyden.
In fact, his success has been so remark-
able, he’s surprised the aviation indus-
try doesn’t take advantage of aircraft
management for smaller GA aircraft.
“That kind of service is readily
available on corporate jets,” Herold
asserts, “but there are many owners of
smaller aircraft who’d be willing to
pay a reasonable fee to have every-
thing except the actual flying taken
care of for them. I’d be happy to pay a
management company, such as Avex,
Inc. in Camarillo, Calif., to oversee
all aspects of my Trinidad’s operation,
if I were fortunate enough to be based
there. They basically keep the air-
plane maintained, clean, fueled, serv-
iced and ready to fly on a moment’s
notice, but those companies are few
and far between.”
For the nonce, Herold flies his
business missions with the sure knowl-
edge that his Trinidad offers the right
combination of performance, efficiency
and operating economics—until the
day he can afford a TBM-700. PJ