RFDS could receive big boost & more PC-12 aircraft

The WA Liberal Party has pledged $68 million to the Royal Flying Doctor Service under a five-year country health plan outlined today.

If elected, the Liberal Party have promised funding that would provide the RFDS with three Pilatus PC 12 aircraft and associated crews including pilots, doctors and nurses to cater for emergencies day and night.
Liberal leader Troy Buswell said in spite of four State and Commonwealth reports over the past three years indicating under-funding for patient transport, the Carpenter Government had only increased the allocation by $2 million in the 2008/09 budget, an amount which would need to be shared between the RFDS and the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme.

“In contrast, the Liberals recently committed $30 million over four years to revitalise the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme, providing country people with adequate compensation for the high costs of travel and accommodation as well as relaxing the eligibility criteria,” he said.

“This is about giving people in regional WA a fair go and helping them get medical treatment they need.”

Pilatus PC-12 fleet exceeds 2,000,000 hours

http://www.pilatus-aircraft.com/applications/press_release/index_rd.php?det=0000000054

PC-12 & Biofuels

Could the PC-12 eventually run on biofuels? So far, most of the emphasis on biofuels and synthetic jet fuels has been on the heavy hitters, airlines and military. Pratt and Whitney Canada, whose engines power a big percentage of the small jets and turboprops in service, is evaluating the use of "second generation" biofuels that don't compete with food production. The most promising of these, to date, are jatropha, a succulent plant that will grow in the poorest, driest soil in the harshest climates and deliver about 10 times as much fuel as irrigated, fertilized and pesticide-intensive corn (about 800 liters per acre) as well as algae from the sea. "Already a leader in green technologies for small aviation engines, we aim to have a fuel-flexible engine and to develop technologies that will allow us to offer aircraft manufacturers innovative and green power solutions," said Walter Di Bartolomeo, vice president - Engineering, P&WC."

AvWeb

PC-12 receives additional certifications

http://www.pilatus-aircraft.com/applications/press_release/index_rd.php?det=0000000055

PC-12 busy at work in Kenya

A top test pilot who helped coordinate the flying display at Farnborough has turned his skills these past three years toward the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).

MAF flies supplies and relief around the world, including Derek Reeh's new home of Kenya. When his Pilatus PC-12 lands loaded with needed supplies, sometimes the reaction is astonishment along with gratitude." Making seven or eight stops over eight hours every day adds up. "When I joined MAF I had about 6,000 flying hours. That 6,000 in 30 years of career and 2,000 hours in the last three years."

FlightGlobal

U.K Pilatus dealer sees big demand

Bob Berry, chairman of British distributor Pilatus UK says: “Demand will only grow for this aircraft. We do not have a competitor - that’s not arrogance but there’s nothing equal to the PC-12 and what it does. It can use 700m strips and 2,000nm range at 28,000ft with 8 people.”

Berry is convinced that if or when the regulations on single-engined commercial operations in Europe change, he could sell aircraft into commercial operations. “The PC-12 NG has taken us into the 21st century. The difference is huge: you are going from King/Bendix equipment to pure glass. You can just call in so much information from that cockpit,” adds Berry. Berry expects the next UK-bound NG to be delivered in November this year.

Flight Global

PC-21 training now underway

Pilot trainees from the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) have commenced basic flying training on the Pilatus PC-21 aircraft trainer at the RSAF Flying Training School (FTS) in Pearce, Australia.

Twelve PC-21 aircraft trainers have been delivered to RSAF FTS Pearce. The remaining seven aircraft are scheduled for delivery in Aug 2008. The PC-21 will replace the Aermacchi S-211 aircraft trainer - the RSAF's basic trainer for the last 24 years

AirSprint goes green

Judson Macor, CEO of AirSprint Inc., Canada's leader in fractional aircraft sales, announced today that the company has developed a program to offset estimated generation of carbon dioxide for all of its corporate activities in partnership with TerraPass, a provider of offset programs to the private aviation industry. "A number of our Owners asked us to investigate the possibility of purchasing carbon offsets to balance out the carbon impact from the use of their aircraft. What we arrived at was a voluntary, progressive and proactive program that would allow our clients to enjoy a 'green footprint' with AirSprint and perhaps provide all of us with some insulation from a more onerous mandatory program in the future," Mr. Macor said.
According to Mr. Macor, the annual carbon offset costs incurred with a one-eighth ownership in an AirSprint aircraft are estimated to range from $1,158 for a Pilatus PC-12 to $3,587 for a Citation XL/S.

SeaPort Airlines using the PC-12

A new airline is offering just that on 40-minute flights from Seattle to Portland, plus the convenience of flying into Boeing Field, rather than SeaTac, and having to show up only 15 minutes before your flight. "If you've ever traveled between Portland and Seattle, especially on business, you know that whether you drive, fly or take a train it's three to three and a half hours one way. We cut that in half," said SeaPort Airlines CEO Kent Craford. "You can get up, get to the office, do a little work, hop on a flight to Portland, have a full day of meetings and come home to Seattle for dinner."

The airline's Pilatus PC-12 aircraft -- which seats nine passengers per flight -- fall outside the Transportation Security Administration's jurisdiction. So, no security checks.

SeaPort offers eight round trip flights on weekdays and four on Saturdays and Sundays for a total of $78 each way during the month of July. In August that settles to the base one-way price of $149.

Pilatus well positioned for Russian market

The Russian government has scrapped a major impediment to the growth of its business aviation sector. A punitive import tax on private aircraft was lifted last week, according to Russia Today The tax had driven many Russian business people to register their aircraft outside the country but that's expected to change and also boost sales. Russia is seen as major market for business aircraft because of the lack of convenient transportation to its resource-rich hinterlands.

IS&S questioning viability of glass retrofit

IS&S will need to rethink its retrofit offering for the Pilatus PC-12, Wilson noted, after Honeywell gained approval for the Apex glass cockpit in the model a few months ago. “We’re trying to reshape the Pilatus offering because, to be quite honest, the units we’ve sold have gone mostly onto aircraft just arriving in the country as a first fit, and not as true retrofits,” Wilson said. Now that new PC-12s are rolling out of the factory with the Apex system, IS&S plans to add functionality to its offering for that airplane to make the cockpit more attractive to operators of in-service PC-12s, he said.

Pilatus P2 vandalized

Emergency services were called to a wheat field near Grantham in the United Kingdom where a Pilatus P2 aircraft had made an emergency landing. The emergency landing was executed safely but regretably the historic P2 was later destroyed by vandals. (Image above shows a similar aircraft)

Planesense facility goes live

Launched in 1995, PlaneSense flies 34 PC-12s, the largest fleet in the world. PlaneSense have also ordered an additional 19 planes through 2010.

The rapid growth of the fractional ownership and PlaneSense's expanding fleet, in conjunction with the excellent performance of AAC, prompted both companies to move from the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport to the larger facility at Pease.