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.