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Read the original first flight press release:
First Flight of the Pilatus PC-21
Stans, July 1, 2002 -- A new vision in military flying training was realised earlier today when the Pilatus PC-21 made its maiden flight in Stans, Switzerland. The PC-21 looks set to revolutionise the way that air forces look at the value chain in their flying training system. "Such a revolution was only possible by combining the inherently low operating costs of a turboprop with the very latest avionics technology and wrapping the package inside innovative financial frameworks" stated Oscar J. Schwenk, President and CEO of Pilatus.PC-21 is a totally new design that is targeted at a much wider training envelope than has been possible to date. The aerodynamic performance far exceeds that of any existing turboprop trainer and the open-architecture mission system is more advanced than any training aircraft, jet or turboprop in existence. The aircraft is therefore targeted at basic and advanced flying training and the sophisticated airborne simulation features also make it suitable for fighter lead-in sorties. This enables air forces to download large tranches of training from jet aircraft that have direct operating costs of 3 - 6 times that of the PC-21.
Schwenk, who was responsible for the development of the very successful PC-12 Business Aircraft, articulated his strategy for the CHF 200 mio investment: "We had the choice of upgrading our existing designs, such as the PC-9M or starting from a clean sheet of paper. We took the latter and more difficult route because the prize would be a product that was totally focused on customers needs - shorter training pipelines, higher quality outputs and lower overall cost. I am delighted with the product and with the fact that we have achieved first flight only three and a half years after launching the programme."
PC-21 was flown by Pilatus test pilot Bill Tyndall. The flight lasted 73 minutes. Tyndall climbed the aircraft to an altitude of 10'000 feet before accelerating to 176 knots and performing gentle manoeuvres. "Everything went exactly according to plan. The aircraft behaved normally throughout the flight envelope and I feel confident that we will be able to make rapid progress through the test program." Tyndall stated.
The aircraft will be certified in 2004 and considerable interest has already been expressed from a number of large air forces. "Our prime concern was to address every aspect of the value chain and re-define the benchmarks" a senior source within the programme management team said. "The PC-21 is particularly suitable for Private Finance Initiative because it is affordable, value for money and the emphasis that we have placed on reliability and maintainability mitigates the risks inherent in service delivery contracts".
Test flying will continue throughout the Summer and the flight envelope will be expanded rapidly to test critical performance criteria, such as the 300kt low-altitude cruise speed and the training system software.
O. J. Schwenk summed up his vision by stating "I fully expect that PC-21 will rise to the challenge and maintain Pilatus as the Number 1 Turboprop trainer manufacturer in the World".
See also the full technical data in our Gallery!
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Last updated 2 July 2002
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