Pilatus Aircraft has delivered eight PC-24s so far, and says it is on track to hit its 2018 target to ship 23 of the superlight business jets.
The first PC-24 – MSN101 – was handed over in January to long-time Pilatus customer PlaneSense, and entered service in April. To date, the US fractional ownership provider has logged over 800h on the Williams International FJ44-4A-powered airframe.
Pilatus Aircraft
Other PC-24 recipients have been private owners and commercial firms: Flight Fleets Analyzer lists current operators as including Flying Club 24, Skytech, and Western Aircraft in the USA, and Premium Jet in Switzerland.
Pilatus is now preparing MSN111 for delivery to an unnamed owner - identified by Fleets Analyzer as Luxembourg-based Jetfly Aviation - while MSN105 and MSN106, destined for Australia's Royal Flying Doctor Service, are now in the final stages of completion. The pair, part of an order for five air ambulance-configured PC-24s, will be handed over in October and November.
Meanwhile, Pilatus says it is on track to wrap-up post-certification testing in the fourth quarter. Flight-test aircraft P01 has undergone rough-field trials at Woodbridge airfield in the UK and Fano, Italy, says Pilatus, and the programme has now shifted to Kuuijuaq in northern Quebec, Canada, with P02 used for the effort.
Pilatus Aircraft
The PC-24 is designed to take off from and land on runways of only 856m (2,810ft), including grass and gravel strips. This feature gives the aircraft access to over 20,000 landing sites around the globe, says Pilatus – more than twice as many as competing light-jet category models such as the Cessna Citation XLS+ and Bombardier Learjet 75.
Source: Flight International
