1. Development
    Flight testing  Production  Orders and deliveries 

2. Design

3. Operators
     Civilian   Military 

4. Specifications

5. See also

6. References

7. External links

The Pilatus PC-24 is a light business jet produced by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland.

Following the PC-12 single turboprop success, work on the jet started in 2007 for greater range and speed, keeping the rugged airfield capability.

The aircraft was introduced on 21 May 2013 and rolled out on 1 August 2014, with the maiden flight on 11 May 2015. The PC-24 received EASA and FAA type certification on 7 December 2017 and the first customer delivery was on 7 February 2018.

Powered by two Williams FJ44 turbofans, it competes with the Embraer Phenom 300 or the Cessna Citation CJ4.

Development

During the 1990s, Pilatus Aircraft had brought to market the Pilatus PC-12, a single-engine turboprop-powered business aircraft. As the PC-12 quickly proved to be a commercial success, Pilatus sought to follow up with a complementary aircraft and began gathering feedback from customers of the type. In response to this request, several customers reportedly expressed a desire for an aircraft that would possess both a greater range and top speed than the existing PC-12, while retaining the type's overall ruggedness and ability to make use of very short runways.^[6] Based on this feedback, Pilatus elected to pursue development of such an aircraft. In 2007, Pilatus initiated work on the program.^[3] Development of the aircraft was conducted using existing company funds.^[4] The design program was first mentioned by Pilatus in its May 2011 annual report.^[2]

On 21 May 2013, the PC-24 was introduced to the public at the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva. At the time, Pilatus chairman Oscar Schwenk claimed the PC-24 did not fit into any existing business jet categories, and stated that the aircraft was the only one that combined "...the versatility of a turboprop with the cabin size of a medium light jet, and the performance of a light jet".^[5][6]

On 1 August 2014, which is also Switzerland's national day, P01, the first of the three PC-24 prototypes, was rolled out.^[7] Each of these three prototypes serve different functions in the development program; P01 is intended for exploring the flight envelope of the type, P02 is mainly for trialling the avionics and autopilot integration, and will spend much of its testing life in the US, while P03 is to be representative of production aircraft and will incorporate improvements made based upon the development work performed with the other two aircraft.^[3]

Flight testing

The first flight of the prototype had been originally anticipated to take place in late 2014, but this was delayed.^[8] On 11 May 2015, P01 conducted its first flight from Buochs Airport, Switzerland, for a total of 55 minutes. The occasion marked the start of test flights for the aircraft's two-year certification campaign.^[9][10] At the time, type certification and initial deliveries were anticipated for 2017.^[11][12]

On 16 November 2015, P02, the second prototype, performed its maiden flight, lasting for 82 minutes; by this date, P01 had accumulated a total of 150 flying hours and had performed over 100 flights.^[13][14] In May 2016, P01 took an brief intermission in the test program to appear on static display at EBACE; by this point, P01 and P02 had accumulated more than 500 flight hours between them.^[15] During EBACE 2016, it was commented that the program was on track and test flights had been free of surprises; during a transatlantic crossing to the US, P02 had achieved a cruise speed in excess of 800 km/hr (432 kt.), which was better than expected.^[12]

The PC-24 flight-test fleet was completed with the addition of the third prototype of P03 in March 2017; by May they had logged 950 flights and 1,525 hours.^[23]

In August 2017, Williams International received type and production certification from the EASA and FAA for its FJ44-4A-QPM while the three test aircraft accumulated over 1,700h of flight tests, on schedule for certification and introduction in the fourth quarter.^[16]

By October 2017, more than 2,000 hours had been flown, with the P01 prototype flying 626 times and 900 hours. The P03 prototype will complete a functional and reliability program, including 150 hours over six weeks before certification is completed and initial deliveries commence.^[17]

The three prototypes flew 2205 hours including icing conditions and very hot temperatures, outside its flight envelope, bird strikes, structural stress tests and noise tests before it received EASA and FAA type certification on 7 December 2017. Orders were to reopen after publishing the aircraft's final performance data and assessing operators' feedback, on or before the 2018 National Business Aviation Association conference in Orlando. Throughout its 40-year lifecycle, Pilatus plan to produce 4,000 units.^[26]

New orders should be accepted in 2019.^[19]

A PC-24 was ordered to transport the Swiss Federal Council.^[27]

On 26 November 2018, the first of five was delivered to the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, supplementing its 35 PC-12s single turboprops.
|crew=one or two
|capacity=8 passengers^[31]
|length m=16.85
|length ft=55
|length in=2
|length note=
|span m=17.0
|span ft=59
|span in=9
|span note=
|height m=5.4
|height ft=17
|height in=4
|height note=
|wing area sqm=30.91
|wing area sqft=332.6
|wing area note=
|aspect ratio={{#expr:17/(30.91/17)round2}}
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg= {{#expr:6100-1135}}
|empty weight lb= {{#expr:13450-2500}}
|max takeoff weight kg=8,300.
|max takeoff weight lb={{cvt|8,300|kg|lb|disp=number}}
|max takeoff weight note=^[25]
|fuel capacity=2,705 kg / 5,965 lb, {{cvt|888.5|USgal|L}}
|more general=

• Max payload: {{cvt|{{#expr:1135+6450-6100}}|kg}}^[25]
• Cabin: 7.01 m × 1.69 m × 1.55 m long × wide × high ( 23 ft 0 in × 5 ft 7 in × 5 ft 1 in)
• Cabin altitude: 2,438 m at 13,716 m (8,000 ft at 45,000 ft), {{cvt|8.78|psi|bar}}

• Take-off: 820 m / 2,690 ft (MTOW, ISA, sea level, dry paved runway)
• Landing: 770 m / 2,525 ft (Over 50 ft obstacle, MLW, ISA, sea level, dry paved runway)

See also

• Cessna CitationJet CJ4^[65]
• Embraer Phenom 300^[42]
• Grob G180 SPn

References

External links

• {{Official website|http://www.pilatus-aircraft.com/#275 }}

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