Story ID: 369
Looking Back: Pilatus Aircraft
By: Samantha Cartaino
Caption: This timeline explores Pilatus Aircraft's milestones since last year's NBAA Convention.
Word Count: 621
November 2016

The Pilatus PC-24 flight-test aircraft P02 flew into Orlando Executive Airport for its one-day public showing at the NBAA 2016 static display. At this time, PC-24 vice president André Zimmerman told AIN that the company already amassed extensive data on how the aircraft behaves on contaminated runways thanks to testing on the flooded-runway course at Cranfield, UK. Pilatus said it would begin work on unimproved landings in the spring.

January 2017

Babcock Mission Critical Services France announced it would buy 17 Pilatus PC-21 turboprop trainers to provide future fast jet pilot and navigator training aircraft for the French air force under a service contract lasting 11 years.

Pilatus named PlaneSense the launch customer for the new PC-24 twinjet. The fractional provider, which operated more than 35 PC-12 turboprop singles at the time, will take delivery of the first customer PC-24 in the fourth quarter, following certification. It was revealed that PlaneSense had an outstanding order for six of the light jets.

March 2017

Pilatus announced the first flight of its third prototype PC-24 twinjet. The flight for P03, registered HB-VSA, lasted two hours and five minutes, taking off from Buochs Airport in Switzerland. The aircraft, the last prototype, joined its two siblings in the flight-test program, which began in May 2015 when P01 first flew. 

April 2017

Innovative Solutions & Support received FAA STC approval for its Pilatus PC-12 retrofit avionics suite with two 8- by 10-inch LCD primary flight displays and a 13- by 10-inch LCD multifunction display.

May 2017

Pilatus Aircraft reported revenue of 821 million Swiss francs ($824.5 million) and 89 million Swiss francs ($89.4 million) in earnings after deduction of 101 million Swiss francs ($101.4 million) for R&D expenses in 2016. Backlog at the end of the year stood at $1.7 billion Swiss francs ($1.71 billion), not including the 84 PC-24s on the order book (the company stopped taking orders after signing sales contracts for the first two years of production).

Series production of the PC-24 twinjet was under way at Pilatus Aircraft’s headquarters in Stans, Switzerland, with the company preparing to deliver the first customer aircraft in the fourth quarter following certification. 

June 2017

After Surf Air acquired Dallas-based Rise in June, the California-based company announced it would phase out Rise’s fleet of Beechcraft King Air 350s and replace it with Pilatus PC-12s. According to a Surf Air spokeswoman, the combined U.S. fleet would number 12 airplanes.

July 2017

Pilatus delivered the 1,500th aircraft in its PC-12 series. In a handover celebration at the manufacturer’s headquarters in Stans, company chairman Oscar Schwenk presented the milestone turboprop single to Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor Service.

The fuselage and wings of the first production PC-24 twinjet were mated at Pilatus Aircraft’s headquarters. According to Pilatus, series production would be “accelerated” to ensure that prompt deliveries of first customer aircraft could go ahead immediately after certification in the fourth quarter. 

August 2017

Pilatus sold two aircraft, one of which was in the LABACE 2017 static display after being delivered to CBAir.

Australia officially welcomed its new Pilatus PC-21 turboprop trainers into service, marking a key milestone in the Australian Defence Force effort to overhaul its pilot training program. The AIR 5428 Pilot Training System Project delivered an integrated pilot training program to the Australian Defence Force, tailored for all future pilots of the RAAF, Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army.

September 2017

The PC-12NG was the only business turboprop on display at JetExpo 2017 in September. The Russian airshow featured considerably fewer business jets on display than in previous years.