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 annual convention of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) in October 1989. The first flight of the first of two prototypes took place on May 31, 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 March 30, 1994, and U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approval followed on July 15, 1994.
As with many other Pilatus aircraft, the PC-12 is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop engine (the PT6A-67B). It is certified for single-pilot IFR operations, though operators may choose to utilize a second flight crew member. Pilatus offers the PC-12 in a standard nine-seat airliner form, in a four-passenger seat/freight Combi version, and as a six-seat corporate transport with an option for a seven-seat by adding a three-seat bench in place of seats five and six. A pure freighter model is under consideration.
The PC-12M (Multipurpose) is based on the PC-12, but equipped with a more powerful electrical generation system that enables addition of additional power-consuming equipment. This enables the PC-12M to perform missions 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.
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-12NG (Next Generation) at the 2007 NBAA meeting in Atlanta. The NG features a more powerful Pratt & Whitney PT6-67P engine with better climb performance and an increase in maximum cruise speed to 280kts TAS. The NG also features a Honeywell APEX glass cockpit. The revised cockpit includes automatic pressurization control as well as cursor controlled inputs to the navigation system. The PC-12 NG winglets have also been modified from the original version.
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 countries. This opens a new market for the PC-12 as a regional airliner that would 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 34 PC-12s.
In 1994 the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia was the launch customer of the PC-12.
Accidents and incidents
Main article: 2009 Montana Pilatus PC-12 crashOn March 22, 2009, a PC-12/45 with the aircraft registration number N128CM, owned by the Eagle Cap Leasing of Enterprise, Oregon, crashed on approach to the Bert Mooney Airport in Butte, Montana. The aircraft had departed from Oroville, California, and diverted from the original destination of Bozeman, Montana for unknown reasons. All 14 people on board were killed: one pilot and 13 passengers, seven of whom were young children. Reports indicate the flight was taking the passengers to a skiing trip in Bozeman.
On June 12, 2009, a PC-12 crash landed at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, Connecticut. No one was injured.
On July 5, 2009, a Pilatus PC-12 crashed in Rockbridge County, Va., after the pilot reported an exterior panel came off of the aircraft. The pilot, Daniel Dorsch, owner of Papa John's Pizza chain in Florida, Fun Bike Center of Lakeland, FL and former CEO of Checkers Drive-In Restaurants (1999–2003), his wife Cynthia Dorsch and at least two other passengers were killed.
On July 24, 2009 the NTSB issued its preliminary report on the Rockbridge County, Va. accident. On July 25, 2009, the Roanoke Times published an analysis of the NTSB report subtitled Without being conclusive, it suggests failure of navigational instruments as the main cause. This article argues that the accident was caused not by the loss of a structural panel from the aircraft, as had been suggested by early accounts, but from the failure of the pilot's primary instrument panel. This failure, the author speculates, resulted in the pilot's becoming spatially disoriented, which consequently caused him to lose control of the aircraft.
On October 16, 2009, a Pilatus PC-12 crashed just outside the city of Weert, the Netherlands. The aircraft crashed into a field shortly after taking off from Budel's Kempen Airport. Eyewitnesses saw smoke coming from the PC-12. Two people aboard were killed.
Variants
Operators
Civilian
More than 780 PC-12s have been sold as of June 2008; most are used in the civil market.
Present airline operators:
- Pascan Aviation
- SeaPort Airlines
- Wasaya Airways
- Dexter
Former airline operators:
- Bearskin Airlines
- NAC Air
- Peace Air
- Ornge (Ontario Air Ambulance) — 6 on order; delivery late 2009/2010
- AirSprint Inc. (Fractional ownership)
Police
- Argentine National Gendarmerie - operates one PC-12 for VIP and MEDEVAC transport
- Western Australia Police - operate two PC-12s for staff transport, search and rescue and disaster relief.
- Northern Territory Police
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service
Ambulance
- Royal Flying Doctor Service - operates 22 PC-12 for transport.
- Ornge - will be operating 6 PC-12 NG for aeromedical transport
Military
- Bulgarian Air Force operates one PC-12 for VIP transport.
- Finnish Air Force has ordered six PC-12NG aircraft to be used as liaison aircraft.
- South African Air Force operates one PC-12 with 41 Squadron for VIP transport.
- Swiss Air Force operates one PC-12 for research flights and VIP transport.
- United States Air Force operates 10 PC-12/47s (designated U-28A) for special operations, another three are on order.
Specifications (PC-12)
General characteristics
- Crew: one or two pilots
- Capacity: 9 passengers standard, 6-8 executive
- Payload: 1,500 kg (3,502 lb)
- Length: 14.40 m (47 ft 3 in)
- Wingspan: 16.23 m (53 ft 3 in)
- Height: 4.26 m (14 ft 0 in)
- Wing area: 25.81 m² (277.8 ft²)
- Empty weight: 2,761 kg (5,867 lb)
- Loaded weight: 4,700 kg (10,450 lb)
- Max takeoff weight: 4,740 kg (10,450 lb)
- Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67B turboprop, 895 kW (1,200 shp)
- Maximum landing: 4,700 kg (10,450 lb)
- Maximum payload full fuel: 539 kg (1,189 lb)
- Tail wingspan: 5.20 m (17 ft 1 in)
- Propeller: Hartzell HC - E4A - 3D/E10477K – 4 blade aluminum
- Propeller diameter: 2.67 m (8 ft 9 in)
- Propeller RPM: 1,700 rpm constant speed
Performance
- Cruise speed: 500 km/h (