Pilatus PC-12 Totally Explained

Everything about The Pilatus Pc-12 totally explained

The Pilatus PC-12 is a single-engine turboprop passenger and cargo aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. The main market for the aircraft is corporate transport and regional airliner operators.

Design and development

Pilatus announced the development of the PC-12 at the National Business Aircraft Association's annual convention in October 1989. The first flight of the first of two prototypes took place on 31 May 1991. Certification of the type was originally planned for mid-1991 but a redesign of the wings (increase of wing span and addition of winglets to ensure performance guarantees were met) delayed this. Swiss certification finally took place on 30 March 1994 and FAA approval followed on 15 July 1994.
   As with many other Pilatus aircraft, the PC-12 is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67B turboprop engine. It is certified for single-pilot IFR operations, though operators may choose to utilize a second flight crew member. The PC-12 is offered in standard nine-seat airliner form, in a four-passenger seat/freight combi version and as a six-place corporate transport. A pure freighter model is under consideration.
   The U-28A is the United States Air Force variant of the PC-12 for intra-theater support of special operations forces. The 319th Special Operations Squadron is stationed at Hurlburt Field, Florida at the headquarters of the Air Force Special Operations Command.
   Pilatus unveiled the PC-12 47/E (Next Generation) at the 2007 National Business Aircraft Association meeting in Atlanta. The 47/E model features a more powerful Pratt & Whitney PT6-67P engine with better climb performance and an increase in maximum cruise speed to 280kts TAS. The Next Generation aircraft also features a Honeywell APEX Glass Cockpit. The revised cockpit includes automatic pressurization control as well as cursor controlled inputs to the navigation system. Along with the engine and avionics upgrade, BMW DesignWorks were recruited to update the interior. The Next Generation aircraft starts with serial number 1001 and the last generation (legacy aircraft) finishes at serial number 888.

Operational history

Most PC-12s are used as corporate transports, but recent regulatory changes in Australia, Brazil, Canada and the United States have cleared single engine turboprops such as the PC-12 for regional passenger transport operations in those nations. This has opened up a new potential market for the PC-12 as a regional airliner, in order to replace older twin piston-engined aircraft.
Planesense, a New Hampshire-based fractional ownership company, is the largest fractional operator of PC-12s in the world, operating 30 PC-12s. Their aircraft have logged over 80,000 flight hours.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia were the launch customer for the PC-12 in 1994. The RFDS operate 19 PC-12 aircraft with more to follow and have logged more than 120,000 hours.

Variants

Basic options:

Nine-seat standard passenger airliner.
Six to eight seat executive corporate transport.
Four-seat passenger/cargo combination.
All-cargo transport.

PC-12M : The PC-12M (the M stands for multipurpose) is based on the basic PC-12 but equipped with a more powerful electrical generation system in order to enable the integration of additional power-consuming equipment. This enables the PC-12M to perform special mission tasks such as flight inspection, air ambulance, parachutist dropping, aerial photography and aerial surveillance. This version is marketed in the United States as the PC-12 Spectre paramilitary special missions platform.

Operators

Civilian Users

More than 730 PC-12s have been sold as of September 2007; most are used in the civil market.

Military Users

Bulgarian Air Force, since 2003.

South African Air Force, 41 Squadron.

Swiss Air Force

Further Information

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