Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC
Start-up US regional carrier Community Air hopes to begin scheduled passenger services in April, with the single-engined 10-seat Pilatus PC-12. The small carrier is the first to exploit recent US Federal Aviation Administration legislation that allows the carriage of fare-paying passengers in single engined aircraft under instrument flight rules (IFR).
Based at the small general aviation airport in Ukiah, California, about 200km (120 miles) north of San Francisco, the new carrier plans initially to serve Sacramento, and later San Jose and Reno. Utilisation will be kept high by operating night cargo flights and weekend passenger charters to Lake Tahoe. The carrier's maintenance base will be located in Ukiah, with additional work to be conducted in Stockton, California.
Community Air selected the PC-12 turboprop after the FAA finalised Federal Aviation Regulation Part 135 for single-engined IFR (SEIFR) last May, which permits revenue passenger operations in single piston and turbine engined aircraft.
Regulators had previously feared that engine failures on single engined aircraft flying in weather on instruments would be likely to result in fatal accidents, but recent statistics on single engine reliability have changed the aviation agency's position.
The FAA has imposed conditions on SEIFR aircraft, including engine condition monitoring through oil analysis every 100h, with condition trends tracked, to reduce engine failure risk. The agency also requires an autopilot or a first officer on the aircraft. Two independent electrical power generating sources, or a standby battery that can maintain 150% of the minimum electrical load for at least 60min, are also required.
Community Air says that it has purchased 11 Swiss-built Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67B-powered PC-12s, and taken options on an additional 21. Four aircraft will be delivered this year - the first in March - with seven more due annually during the next three years, from 2000.
Canada's Kelner Airways of Goose Bay, Labrador, was the first commuter airline to put the PC-12 into service.
Source: Flight International
