PHOTOS COURTESY OF ‘Concierge Diamonds’
When you think of the tools that a jeweler uses, calipers, pliers, and loupes most likely come to mind. Not airplanes.
While Dan Moran, the owner of Concierge Diamonds, uses the tools synonymous with the trade, he also relies upon his Piper JetPROP to ensure his clients receive the best jewelry and customer service possible. Moran explained that he wanted to be a pilot for as long as he could remember but wasn’t able to pursue flying until little over a decade ago.
“I was always that toddler who screamed ‘airplane!’ whenever there was one nearby. I was always into aviation, but it didn’t ever seem like something people could actually do, right? It always seemed far away and impossible. But I used to ride motorcycles enthusiastically and met guys through riding who were all pilots. They were kind enough to take me as a passenger on some hundred-dollar hamburger flights. I became hopelessly addicted, and at some point, they asked me if I was going to learn to fly or not. So, I gave it a shot!”
Moran’s first training flight was in September of 2013. He learned to fly behind the yoke of rented Cessna 172s, and after several hundred hours logged, decided to buy an aircraft of his own.
“My home field was Torrance Municipal Airport (KTOA) in Southern California, where there was a small flying club that was called the Sling Flying Club. Of course, these days, Sling is a huge force in LSAs and experimentals, but at the time, they were relatively unknown. They were using South African light sport aircraft, and I decided to check those out. I really liked the airplanes and the people that were involved and bought their demo aircraft, which was a four-seat experimental.”
After 300 hours flying the Sling 4, a new model, the Sling TSi was announced. Moran wound up being the first in the United States to purchase it.
“I flew that for about five years or so, and it was a tremendous aircraft. But it became clear to me that my mission was exceeding the capabilities of the airplane. I was starting to fly longer distances and needed better weather capability. There were a few scary flights where I said to myself, ‘This airplane really has no business being here.’ So, I decided it was time to either move up or move out. I decided to move up into the turbine world and bought a Piper JetPROP, which I took delivery of in late 2023.”
Moran’s aircraft is a 1985 Malibu that was converted in 2010 with the JetPROP STC. Several aspects drew him to this aircraft over other airframes.
“I am an efficiency-minded guy and really like doing as much as you can with as little as possible. When you compare the JetPROP to a Meridian and you’re getting a better climb rate and similar cruise speeds for 25 percent lower fuel burn. That was really appealing to me,” he said.
“And even though the JetPROP is a higher workload airplane to fly than the Meridian, it gives you more control. I equate it to driving a stick shift versus driving an automatic. There is more work with the stick shift, but you have better control when you are driving. I like being able to control my inertial separator. I like being able to control where fuel is being drawn from. I like having manual control of the propeller. I am willing to accept the higher workload for higher efficiency, so for me it was a no-brainer.”
Moran explained that safety was his primary motivator for buying his current aircraft. Going faster, higher, and further were secondary benefits.
“For me, the first and foremost motivating factor was safety. It’s a cliche at this point in aviation that moving from a piston to a turbine makes you safer. When you start looking at the statistics, it’s really eye-opening just how much more reliable a PT6 is than even the best piston engine you can ever possibly find. Even though the Rotax is a great, reliable engine, I had a power failure in my Sling. It’s a pretty scary thing when you’re below 300 feet AGL and your engine goes quiet. That day, I landed and decided that I needed to step up,” Moran explained.
“Safety was the primary motivator, but you get numerous other benefits when moving to something like a JetPROP. I now go 100 knots faster in cruise flight, which is very significant. One of the most important additional benefits is pressurization. Once you’ve flown pressurized, it’s hard to imagine going back to putting cannulas in your nose and flying in the teens. Being up at the flight levels, pressurized, is a big deal. And then, of course, knowing that I can punch through an icing layer and handle some adverse weather gives me a lot of comfort. I have a much broader mission envelope now in terms of how far I can go and how reliably I can get there. I am planning a trip the day after tomorrow to Sun Valley, Idaho, and the weather looks a bit sketchy. I’m comfortable doing it in the JetPROP but wouldn’t have even considered going in my last aircraft.”
Moran has flown his current airplane more than 200 hours since acquiring it and is extremely enthusiastic about its impact on his business and life.
“I don’t find myself being too terribly range-limited. When there are two people in the airplane, you can go a thousand miles. I don’t usually fly with full fuel, and I am actually taking the sixth seat out when redoing my interior later this year. By the time you’ve filled all the seats, you don’t really have much range left,” he said.
“One of the main reasons I use the plane is to fly to private events for my jewelry business, where I need to be able to pack showcases. Even though they are collapsible, it’s still a pretty big box. So, having the space for stuff is more useful to me than having that sixth seat is. I also use the airplane to see clients directly, whether that’s to do diamond presentations and show them stones that they are considering, or to deliver finished rings. Sometimes I’ll also travel for appraisals. There was a situation last year where someone’s family member passed away, and their jewelry had more value than they were comfortable shipping. I flew out and was able to support them effectively in person.”
Most of Moran’s flights are business-oriented and are predominantly west of the Mississippi River. The furthest he has flown so far is to Chicago, and he anticipates travelling more to Denver and Salt Lake City, as he finds those areas underserved in the jewelry business.
“My most common mission, I would say, is to the Bay Area. In the Sling days, I had to cancel quite a few missions, especially in the wintertime, because of icing or bad weather. Now I can make most of those trips easily. I also fly to Arizona with some regularity, and a flight to Phoenix would probably be at flight level 250 or 270. I will be cruising at about 245 true burning 29 gallons an hour, depending on the OAT,” Moran said.
“[The] typical climb rate is 2,000 FPM or more at sea level, coming down to about 1,000 FPM by FL200. I’ve had ATC misidentify me as a Meridian on more than one occasion, and then marvel that I was climbing much faster than they expected.”
There is an additional unexpected benefit of the JetPROP, too, Moran explained.
“There’s also the marketing benefit, if you will, as clients think it’s really fun to meet in an FBO, walk around the ramp, and see the airplanes. Most people don’t get a window into that world, and I’ve taken clients for flights over the Golden Gate, for instance, where they’re taking pictures of their rings with the Bridge in the background. Not only do they really love it, but then they post the photos on social media, and their friends start calling me wanting the same thing. So, it’s good for business, and it’s a lot of fun. It lets me share aviation with friends and clients, which is something I love to do.”
Every aircraft has its downsides. What does Moran say are the JetPROP’s?
“Stepping up from a 141 horsepower Rotax to a 550 horsepower PT6 was a huge step in performance, but also in costs. I was very spoiled when I had the Sling. The Sling is a very economical airplane in the first place, but it was even more economical for me because I enjoyed a unique relationship with the owners of Sling USA. As it happens, my home airport is their U.S. headquarters. So, when I bought their demo aircraft 10 years ago, I made a deal with them that I would buy the plane and leave it there, since it was my home base anyway. We agreed that I would let them use it whenever I was not flying it, in exchange for them handling the maintenance. That deal held for two airplanes over 10 years, and I saved a lot on maintenance, and the guys at Sling effectively got an extra airplane to use at no cost. So, it was great for everyone,” he said.
“Not only that, but it was also very convenient if there was ever an issue. I could notice something making a funny noise, and 15 minutes later, someone was opening up the cowling. Now, with the JetPROP, if I want to see a PA-46 specialist, I have to take it someplace that’s potentially pretty far away from me. It’s a much more logistically involved endeavor. So, cost and convenience of maintenance are really the only two downsides that I see. I decided that owning one was worth it after hearing how reliable these airplanes are. Most PA-46 turbine owners tell me that typically the cowling comes off once per year, at annual, otherwise, there isn’t anything to do.”
Moran noted that he has been working to fix a few issues he suspects were the result of deferred maintenance by the previous owner but expects those to be resolved shortly. In addition to having those gremlins corrected, he is excited to continue using his aircraft for business, start flying more for Angel Flight, and hone his skills in the cockpit.
“Next on my list is that I need to go start the book work and finish my commercial rating that I’ve been working on,” he said. “I have a 15-year-old who turns 16 in September, so I am hoping that this summer the two of us will have the time to start flying in gliders. And then I would love to be able to add a seaplane rating at some point. There is always more to learn, which is the beauty of aviation. As a pilot, you are a student your whole life.”
