The RAAF and Pilatus are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Pilatus PC-9/A turboprop trainer entering Australian service.
First delivered on November 24 1987 and having since amassed 440,000 hours across a current fleet of 63 aircraft, the PC-9 is in service with the RAAF’s flying training units at East Sale (CFS) and Pearce (2FTS), 4 Squadron at Williamtown and the Aerospace Operational Support Group (with ARDU) at Edinburgh. The aircraft also plays a prominent public role as the mount for the RAAF’s Roulettes aerobatic team.
The first two PC-9 airframes were fully assembled by Pilatus in Switzerland, while the remaining 65 were built under licence by Hawker de Havilland at Sydney’s Bankstown Airport.
The PC-9/A is expected to remain in service at least through to 2016 until it is replaced under the AIR 5428 project, for which the Pilatus PC-21 and Hawker Beechcraft T-6 are likely to be contenders.
Jack Clarke
says:Brings back memories of the East Sales boys having to go to Perth to train as the civilian contactors in Sale would not allow military techos anywhere near them. Good ol’ partnerships back in those days
Brett
says:It was a sad day when the roulettes lost the crowd impact of their magnificent Macchi jets to these turboprops. The RAAF must be the only national aerobatic team in the world not flying jet aircraft.