AOPA featured the PC-12 NG

Thomas Horne produced an excellent article praising the PC-12 NG. Mike Fizer also undertook the photography for this article over the southern Colorado rockies.

IS&S forging ahead with PC-12 retrofits

IS&S in July announced upgrades for its Pilatus PC-12 avionics retrofit program, including a single-sided cockpit option, wide area augmentation system (WAAS) capability and group RVSM certification for all panel configurations.
IS&S also named Finnoff Aviation, Boulder, Colo., as an independent sales agent for the company's cockpit/IP flat-panel display system for the PC-12, a single-engine turboprop manufactured in Switzerland. The latter company is led by Chris Finnoff, former president of Pilatus Business Aircraft Ltd.
Interviewed at the company's headquarters in Exton, Pa., President Roman G. Ptakowski said IS&S sees a market for more than 300 PC-12s, mostly in North America. The company initially certified a cockpit panel layout with two 15-inch displays, and then pursued other configurations.
"Unique among competitors, we actually have multiple architectures," Ptakowski said. "You can buy a PC-12 upgrade with two 15-inch panels, four 10- inch panels or a combination of one 15 (and) two 10s, or two 10s only, as long as we have redundancy of at least two displays. We have an architecture that has been certified by the FAA. We provide a lot of flexibility so people can do a single-side upgrade and then eventually do the dual side. They have an opportunity to address it the way they see fit."
IS&S expects to make WAAS capability available in the fourth quarter for both single-side and full-cockpit display architectures, allowing pilots to fly precision approaches at smaller airports. RVSM certification, available for all cockpit configurations, will allow pilots to fly at flight level 290 and above.

L-3 claim close to PC-12 EVS certification

The L-3 Avionics Iris was certified in April for flight aboard many of the King Air 90, 100, 200 and 300 series turboprop twins. L-3 reports other certifications in progress for Pilatus PC-12 and TBM-700 singles as well as Bell 206 and 407 rotorcraft. The 1.7-pound Iris camera also uses an uncooled IR sensor that, for initially certified installations, feeds video to a Honeywell KMD-850 MFD. L-3 Avionics adds that the King Air STC “allows display on any FAA certified cockpit display” that accepts an appropriate RS-170 video input. The Iris sensor, with a 24-degree horizontal field of view, was originally developed for automotive use.

AIN News

Seaport airlines benefits from PC-12 efficiency

SeaPort Airlines operates the Pilatus PC-12 aircraft, a Swiss-built pressurized turboprop that burns only 51 gallons of jet fuel per Seattle-Portland segment, on average.
"By operating one of the most efficient aircraft in commercial aviation, not only are we able to control our jet fuel costs, but we're also able to go one step further and mitigate the environmental impact of our fuel consumption," said Kent Craford, SeaPort Airlines CEO. "We wanted to put that money into an environmental project that is local, tangible and provides a long-term benefit to the Pacific Northwest. In the Columbia Land Trust, we've found an organization doing just that."
SeaPort Airlines is an FAA Part 135 certified regularly scheduled air service. SeaPort Air and its sister airline, Wings of Alaska, are wholly-owned subsidiaries of SeaPort Air Group, a Portland-based company founded by Portland investors John Beardsley, Tom Carrollo and Kent Craford.

FLYING magazine and the PC-12 NG

The September issue of FLYING magazine features the PC-12 NG. Robert Goyer provided an excellent review for readers of the popular magazine.

The full story is available here: http://tinyurl.com/489gbp

Massive new assembly hall ready for business

Pilatus Aircraft in Stans is preparing for the official opening ceremony of their new assembly hall in Stans, Switzerland. Interesting statistics for the state of the art facility include:

•$22.5 million investment
•80,000 sq. ft.
•Used for PC-12 production.
•Timber for primary structure for hall and annex.
•60 meter span of hall bridged by 16 large timber beams.
•No supporting posts needed.
•State of the art eco compliant heating and ventilation.

Pilatus updates Fuel Comparator for increased prices

The steady increase in the cost of JET A has meant a revision for the Pilatus 'Fuel Comparator". As the cost of fuel increases the efficiency of the PC-12 become ever more relevant. Check it out here: http://www.pilatus-aircraft.com/applications/pc12flash/fuelcomparator.html