| PC-12 | |
|---|---|
| Pilatus PC-12 Sentinel of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement | |
| Role | Passenger and cargo aircraft |
| National origin | Switzerland |
| Manufacturer | Pilatus Aircraft |
| First flight | May 31, 1991 |
| Introduction | 1994 |
| Status | In production |
| Primary users | Civil aviation United States Air Force |
| Number built | 1000+ (by June, 2010)[1] |
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.
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Pilatus announced the development of the PC-12 at the annual convention of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) in October 1989.[2] 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.[3] 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. The 34th Special Operations Squadron (SOS) was activated on 9 April 2010 as the second U-28A unit at Hurlburt. Both squadrons operate as part of the 1st Special Operations Wing/ 1st Special Operations Group (SOG) at Hurlburt. The U-28A / Pilatus PC-12 is also operated by the 318th Special Operations Squadron as part of the 27th Special Operations Wing at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico.[4]
Pilatus announced the PC-12NG (Next Generation) at the 2006 NBAA meeting in Orlando, and officially launched it during the NBAA 2007 in Atlanta.[5] The NG features a more powerful Pratt & Whitney PT6A-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.
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.[6]
In 1994 the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia was the launch customer of the PC-12.
More than 1000 PC-12s have been sold as of June 2010; most are used in the civil market.[1]
Present airline operators:
Former airline operators:
On 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.[18] The aircraft had departed from Oroville, California, and diverted from the original destination of Bozeman, Montana for unknown reasons. The NTSB recovered a computer memory chip from the aircraft that contained essential aircraft and engine performance data. From it, they concluded that icing in the fuel system had prevented the normally balanced flow of fuel from the wings. The pilot had delayed a precautionary landing until one wing was full of fuel and the other was empty, and then lost control of the PC-12 while maneuvering to land.[19] All 14 people on board were killed: one pilot and 13 passengers, seven of whom were young children.[20][21]
On July 5, 2009, a Pilatus PC-12 crashed in Rockbridge County, Va., after the pilot reported the loss of the instrument panel and subsequently requested vectors to get out of weather. 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. According to ATC, the pilot was flying above the max altitude of the aircraft at 31,000' when he reported his loss of the instrument panel.[22][23]
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 [the NTSB report] 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.[24]
On February 8, 2011 at 4:31, a Pilatus PC-12 belonging to the South Africa Ceramics company, Italtile, disappeared from Air Traffic Control's radar. On Wednesday 9 February, wreckage believed to be that of the missing plane was found just off the shore of Robberg Nature Reserve, close to Plettenberg Bay. All on board, including the CEO of Italtile, were killed in the accident.[25][26]
On May 25, 2011 a PC-12 air ambulance en-route to New Delhi crashed in Faridabad killing all seven on board, as well as three people, all women from the same family, in a two-story residential building.[27][28]
General characteristics
Performance
Avionics
Honeywell Primus APEX (PC-12NG)
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