Canada’s Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into a November 3 in-flight incident involving a privately operated, Canadian-registered Pilatus PC-24. The TSB said the crew of the light jet declared an emergency after an in-flight “loss of control” incident and landed uneventfully at Kelowna International Airport in British Columbia.
According to Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network (ASN), after departing Vancouver, “tracking data show a sudden loss of altitude of nearly 1,000 feet as the twinjet was climbing through FL240.” Registration data for the 2020-model aircraft (S/N 192) show it is registered to Mark Anthony Group, an international drinks company based in Vancouver.
Since 2020, ASN has recorded four incidents involving PC-24s. One of the more serious incidents occurred on Dec. 9, 2022, in the UK when a German-registered PC-24 owned by Platoon Aviation and operated by Volkswagen AirService suffered an uncommanded pitch down due to a loss of elevator control, causing the autopilot to disconnect. The aircraft was controllable using pitch trim until the elevator became usable, but there was possible obstruction due to icing, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said. The AAIB’s investigation into the incident is ongoing.