In recent years, the Pilatus PC-12 has proven to be one of the best and most versatile turboprop aircraft ever built. Whilst principally a corporate aircraft, the PC-12 has also been used in hundreds of different capacities!
Indeed, recent years have seen many hail the aircraft as one of the best corporate aircraft you could fly on.
And it’s not me who says that, it’s the people who actually operate the Pilatus PC-12! Since its introduction in 1994, Pilatus has produced almost 2,000 PC-12s, and looks set to produce many more in the coming years…
Development
In the late 1950’s, Swiss aircraft manufacturer, Pilatus Aircraft, released what it called the PC-6. Within only a few years, the PC-6 had proven to be quite a successful utility aircraft.
As the 1960’s and 1970’s progressed, Pilatus realized that many PC-6 operators were removing the half-airline, half-cargo-style interior of the aircraft, replacing it with an interior similar to those used on the first business jets.
Using this information, Pilatus would perform a bit more research on the matter, where they’d realize that many corporations actually wanted a relatively cheap to operate turboprop to use as a short haul corporate aircraft.
As a result, Pilatus would begin designing a single-engine, turboprop-powered corporate aircraft in the late 1970’s. Initially, this would be done in secret, hoping to enter a market that no other company realized was even there!
However, in 1989, Pilatus would reveal what it called the Pilatus PC-12 at the 1989 NBAA convention. This would be followed up with the release of two prototypes on May 1 1991, culminating in their first flight on May 31 that year.
Whilst the first flight was a resounding success, subsequent test flights would reveal a major structural defect in the PC-12’s wing, which led to the wing being completely redesigned.
Eventually, the PC-12 received its new wing, and continued its testing. Here, it would receive its type certificates from most major aviation regulators in mid-to-late 1994.
Service History
The Pilatus PC-12 would enter service in early 1994, with its launch customer, Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor Service. From here, it would go on to have a rather interesting service history…
Utility
Following the delivery of the PC-12 to the RFDS, Pilatus actually struggled to sell the PC-12 to airlines and corporate buyers. Instead, Pilatus was inundated with orders for the PC-12, from utility airlines across the world.
Mostly, this was due to the success of the the PC-6. In 1959, Pilatus had released a purpose-built STOL utility aircraft, which it called the PC-6, which would go on to be produced until 2019, almost 60 years later!
Having been produced for almost 60 years, a number of cargo and utility airlines had large fleets of PC-6s. Many of them saw the introduction of the PC-12 as the PC-6’s larger and cheaper to operate successor.
Despite not being designed for this role whatsoever, the PC-12 has proven to be an invaluable utility aircraft in many utility airlines’ fleets. This is mostly thanks to its uncanny ability to transport low volumes of cargo on long-haul routes.
Thanks to this, it’s not just utility airlines that have bought the Pilatus PC-12. Indeed, the PC-12 has also become an invaluable tool for charter airlines, who use the aircraft both as a cargo and passenger aircraft.
Often, this role depends on what the clients needs. If they require a low amount of high-value cargo transported, the PC-12 is configured as a cargo aircraft, but if they’re looking to transport themselves, it’s configured for passenger use!
Corporate
Although Pilatus initially had some issues with selling the PC-12 to corporate buyers, the aircraft’s success with charter airlines soon garnered widespread media attention. This was then followed by a slew of corporate orders for the PC-12.
Whilst the PC-12 is operated much like any other business jet is, it’s often not the only aircraft used by the corporation. Instead, there’s usually a long-range jet also used by the corporation.
In this capacity, the Pilatus PC-12 is used to transport between six and nine executives/employees on short haul routes, mostly because it’s cheaper than chartering a jet, or flying them on a regional airliner.
For long-haul flights, or flights that are transporting more than nine executives, the company will instead use their long-range jet, usually something like a Falcon 2000/7X or a member of the Global Express Family.
In fact, the PC-12 has proven to be such a great corporate/private aircraft that Pilatus physically can’t make the PC-12 quick enough! According to Pilatus, you’d need to wait almost half a decade to receive your brand-new PC-12.
As a result, many turn to the secondary market to acquire the PC-12. When the PC-12 does go up for sale on the secondary, it often retains as much as 80% of its initial price, when comparable aircraft only retain about 50%!
Charter
After seeing the popularity of the Pilatus PC-12 with its initial corporate operators, a number of executive charter airlines would acquire the aircraft.
Here, they would offer the turboprop as a cost-effective alternative to the short-range business jets, such as the Learjet 31 or Hawker 400, which they also offer.
Although the initial executive charter operators of the PC-12 were laughed at by the rest of the industry, the PC-12 has become arguably the only aircraft that most executive charter airlines use, and by far one of the most popular.
Despite this, the first executive charter airlines acquiring the PC-12 in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, many of these original PC-12s are still in service. In order to stay with the times, they’ve merely been retrofitted with all the latest toys!
This means that, assuming you had the money (and wanted to!) you could still charter a PC-12 built in the 1990’s and use it to fly to wherever you need to go.
As for how much this would cost, this is highly dependent on the charter airline, route and time of year, as all of these will naturally affect the price. However, most charter airlines charge around $1,200 per flight hour for the PC-12.
Military
However, it hasn’t just been utility airlines and corporate flyers that have seen the benefits of the Pilatus PC-12, so have a number of militaries and governments.
For the most part, the PC-12 is used as a short-haul VIP transport, mostly for mid-level government ministers whilst on official duties. In some of these countries, however, the PC-12 also flies as that country’s equivalent of Air Force Two.
Due mostly to the Pilatus PC-12’s small size and comparatively long range, the aircraft has also become a rather popular aerial reconnaissance aircraft. In particular, the Irish Air Corps operate several PC-12s in this role.
The success of the PC-12 as an aerial reconnaissance aircraft has led to it being used in another reconnaissance role: Signals intelligence. Here, it is mostly used to intercept electronic signals such as radio transmissions.
Currently, only Afghanistan, use the PC-12 in this role. Mostly, they fly their SIGNIT Pilatus PC-12s over neighboring Iran and Iraq, mostly listening to military chatter to ensure they aren’t harboring Afghanistan’s enemies.
Whilst not solely used by the military, there are a number of PC-12s configured for medievac missions. Often, they’re used to transport mortally wounded to from field hospitals to better-equipped military hospitals.
With that being said, in times of emergency, these PC-12s are often called in to transport civilians and police officers if necessary.
Features
By far the most noticeable feature of the Pilatus PC-12 (at least when compared to its competitors) is its use of only one engine. By comparison most other large turboprop business aircraft are twin engine aircraft.
For PC-12 operators, this is either a blessing or a curse. As a blessing, it leads to a longer range, faster cruising speed and lower fuel costs. Not to mention it being far quieter both on the ground and inside the cabin!
However, the use of a single engine does sacrifice the additional capacity that many of the PC-12’s twin engine competitors have. This is mostly due to the much short length of the PC-12 by comparison…
Inadvertently, this also leads to the PC-12 having a much smaller baggage area, situated at the rear of the aircraft, than its competitors. With that being said, for between six and nine passengers, the baggage area is plenty big enough!
Perhaps one of the most famous features of the Pilatus PC-12’s features is its customizability. Unlike other business aircraft, you can customize pretty much every aspect of the cabin individually.
This means that if you want a red carpet, white seats and mahogany sideboards, you could do this. By comparison, this would be impossible on most other business aircraft, who prefer you to choose from pre-designed “templates”.
Price
Today, the PC-12 is still in production. With this, assuming you had the money, you could place an order with Pilatus for a brand-new PC-12 straight from the factory!
Currently, Pilatus currently offers a brand new PC-12 for around $4.7 million. However, if you wanted a custom-designed interior, you could be looking at paying as much as $5.5 million.
However, the Pilatus PC-12 has been in service since the mid-1990’s, and as such, there are quite a few PC-12s on the secondary market. Whilst most are older models, there are occasionally newer models too…
As of the time of writing, there are roughly ten PC-12s up for sale. Currently, older PC-12s built in the mid-to-late 1990’s, currently sell for around $1.75 million, whilst newer PC-12s from the late 2010’s, sell for around $3.9 million.
In terms of cost to operate, the PC-12 is incredibly cheap to operate. Assuming you were to fly it for 400 hours per year, the PC-12 costs roughly $932 per hour to operate, including fuel, insurance and maintenance…
This makes the PC-12 by far the cheapest corporate aircraft, in terms of cost to operate, with no other corporate aircraft coming anywhere near as close!
Variants
Since the PC-12’s introduction in 1994, it has proven to be one of the most popular turboprops in history. As a result, a number of different variants have been commissioned for various different purposes!
PC-12
Released in 1994, the PC-12 is the original variant of the Pilatus PC-12 family. Due to this, all subsequent variants of the PC-12 are incidentally derived from the standard PC-12.
The PC-12 was originally certified by the Swiss aviation authority FOCA in 1994, before being certified in the rest of Europe, North America, South America, Australia, and New Zealand (and later, most other countries!)
It is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67B engine, which gave it an MTOW of 4,100 kg (9,039 lb).
PC-12/45
Within two years, however, many had noted that the 4,100 kg (9,039 lb) MTOW made it hard to make a profit whilst on short-haul cargo routes.
As a result, Pilatus began stripping down non-essential weight on the aircraft as well as replacing a number of metal items with composite ones. This gave the PC-12 a much more desirable MTOW of 4,500 kg (9,921 lb).
Instead of releasing this new “variant” separately, Pilatus chose to offer it as a retrofit, which are available to all original production PC-12s for a slight fee. This offer is still open as of the time of writing too!
U-28A Draco
About a year later, the USAF would acquire a number of factory-built PC-12/45s. These aircraft would be modified by the USAF to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) mission.
Whilst much of the modifications remain highly classified, we do know that the USAF have installed a series of radars and signal interceptors, which allow the USAF to monitor enemy troop movements and communications.
These aircraft were first used during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 1998, before repeatedly returning to the country during Operation Enduring Freedom. For the past few years, they’ve mostly been patrolling South America.
PC-12/47
Over the course of the early 2000’s Pilatus was experimenting with composite materials on a grander scale. By 2005, they had replaced a serious portion of the PC-12 with composite materials.
As a lighter aircraft, this new PC-12 was cheaper to operate than the PC-12/45. This weight reduction had also given this new PC-12 variant a much higher MTOW of 4,740 kg (10,450 lb).
Pilatus would designate this as the PC-12/47, and began offering it in late 2005.
Inadvertently, this reduced weight would also lead to a heavily increased range and slightly increased cruising speed, both things that would become standard on subsequent PC-12s…
PC-12NG
At the 2006 NBAA meeting in Orlando, Pilatus unveiled the next generation of the PC-12. This designation of this new aircraft would be reflect this, with it being called the PC-12NG (with “NG” standing for “Next Generation”).
The PC-12NG differs from previous variants mostly on account of the completely redesigned cockpit. Unlike previous variants the PC-12NG is equipped with an all-glass cockpit, which allows it to be flown by just one pilot if needed.
Beyond upgrades to the cockpit, Pilatus also completely redesigned the PC-12NG’s wing. Here, they gave it blended winglets, becoming one of the first turboprop aircraft to do so. These winglets also help to keep operational costs low.
PC-12M Spectre
Within a few months of the PC-12NG’s release in 2006, the US Military became interested in acquiring the aircraft as a short-range multipurpose aircraft, to complement its fleets of Cessna Caravans and Beechcraft 1900s.
In US Military service, the Pilatus PC-12NGs is known as the Pilatus PC-12M Spectre.
The only real difference between the two is the addition of a more powerful electrical generation system, which allows the US Military to install highly-classified systems into their Spectre fleet without depleting all the aircraft’s power.
The US Military also wanted to use their Sprectres to parachute cargo and paratroopers. To accommodate this, Pilatus also added an aft cargo door, which can be opened mid-flight for such operations.
PC-12NGX
By October 2019, however, the PC-12NG had gotten too old. As such, Pilatus announced an already certified, significantly upgraded PC-12NG, which it called the PC-12NGX.
In order to make the PC-12NGX more appealing, Pilatus completely redesigned the PC-12’s fuselage. This saw an all-new cabin be installed, as well as the windows being enlarged by 10%, to the same size as the PC-24’s window.
On top of this, Pilatus also updated the PC-12NG’s pre-existing all-glass cockpit. This particular update mostly saw the addition of more touchscreen capabilities, which aid pilots more whilst in flight.
Specifications
| Specifications | Pilatus PC-12NG |
|---|---|
| Length | 14.4 m (47 ft 3 in) |
| Wingspan | 16.28 m (53 ft 5 in) |
| Height | 4.26 m (14 ft) |
| Crew | 1 – 2 |
| Passengers | 6 – 9 |
| Cruise Speed | 528 km/h (328 mph, 285 kn) |
| Range | 3,417 km (2,123 mi; 1,845 nmi) |
| Service Ceiling | 9,144 m (30,000 ft) |
| MTOW | 4,740 kg (10,450 lb) |
How Safe is The Pilatus PC-12?
When it comes to looking at the safest and most dangerous aircraft currently in our skies, we often tend to focus on commercial airliners, rather than those primarily used as personal and corporate aircraft.
This is often done deliberately. After all, most people who fly will do so on a commercial airliner of some kind, with only a tiny slither of the world’s population ever flying on a corporate aircraft during their lifetimes.
However, for those who are planning on flying on the Pilatus PC-12, we naturally want to know how safe/dangerous the PC-12 is.
As of the time of writing, Pilatus has produced almost 2,000 PC-12s, the majority of whom are operated by private individuals and/or corporations.
Of these 2,000 PC-12s ever built, only 81 have ever been involved in any sort of incident, with only 21 of these crashes having fatalities. In total, the Pilatus PC-12 has had only 81 fatalities.
Whilst this may seem like a lot of crashes and fatalities, it really isn’t when you put it in perspective. Only 4.05% of all PC-12s ever built have had an incident, or roughly the same safety margin as the famed Boeing 747!
To make things even better, only 1.05% of all PC-12s ever built have had fatalities. Even if you are in a crash, there’s only a little bit more than a 25% chance that the crash will fatal. That’s how goof the PC-12 is in terms of safety!
Plus, most of the fatal crashes have been down to either pilot or poor maintenance, both things the owner of the aircraft (you) can control!
What’s it Like to Fly on The Pilatus PC-12?
I’m not going to lie, when I first began writing this article, I had never flown on the PC-12. I had flown on the PC-6 and the PC-24, neither of which I was personally a fan of.
However, over the course of writing this article, I have had the good fortune of flying on a number of Pilatus PC-12s, both corporate and commercial alike! And I can say that I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was!
Prior to flying on the PC-12, I thought it would be quite similar to the PC-6, a seemingly great aircraft on paper, that turns out to be rather neglected. Instead, what I flew on was a single engine turboprop at the height of technology.
Every PC-12 I flew on, regardless of whether it was two years old or twenty years old, was extremely comfy. These flights were smooth enough that I could work comfortably during the flight, something I can’t do on the older PC-6.
However, whilst great as a corporate-style aircraft, if I were flying it as a private jet-style aircraft (yes, I understand it’s a turboprop) I’d have be thoroughly disappointed…
This is because it wasn’t really designed to be a private aircraft, as such it doesn’t have amenities such as inflight entertainment, which are a standard on most other private aircraft of the same size.
If you want to fly the Pilatus PC-12 as a private jet, I would personally recommend the Pilatus PC-24, which is a similar size and has similar specifications, with the exception that it’s powered by turbofan engines, rather than turboprop ones.
Unlike the PC-12, the PC-24 does have these private jet amenities. However, the downside is that it’s both more expensive to acquire and to operate!
What do you think of the Pilatus PC-12? Have you ever flown on it? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Eric Prado via Flickr.
Sure enjoyed your article, having only flown once on a PC aircraft while traveling as a world wide salesman I fell in love with it. Most local flights were in charter or small commercial planes, overseas of course were what ever was available, most memorable was in a 707EX to So. Africa during the Angola war. We flew over a giant sand storm and freefell 11000 ft.. Only thing that saved the plane was that the right wing caught air first and tipped us at a 45 degree angle. Great article! Thanks!