PlaneSense Gears Up for Pilatus PC-24 Service Entry

Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based fractional-share provider PlaneSense is getting ready to receive the first production Pilatus PC-24, now that the twinjet has been certified by both the FAA and EASA. It will ceremoniously take delivery of PC-24 S/N 101—currently registered as HB-VSB—later this month at Pilatus’s headquarters in Stans, Switzerland. But the aircraft won’t be flown to the U.S. until late January or early February to allow time for interior completion and for PlaneSense’s pilots and maintenance technicians to be trained on the jet.

According to PlaneSense president and CEO George Antoniadis, 11 pilots will undergo PC-24 training at FlightSafety’s Dallas learning center in the first quarter, with the first class batch—among them the pilots who will ferry S/N 101 from Switzerland to Portsmouth—starting on January 8 and finishing three weeks later. All 11 are captains and have jet training in the Nextant 400XTi, a type that PlaneSense added in 2015 to kick off its jet program ahead of PC-24 deliveries. They will also receive follow-on intensive PC-24 training from Pilatus test pilots, who will be on site in Portsmouth for about four weeks after delivery. Another dozen pilots will undergo PC-24 training in 2018, Antoniadis said.

Eight PlanseSense maintenance technicians will go through dedicated PC-24 training in the first quarter, with classroom instruction at FlightSafety Dallas and hands-on training in Stans. “Others will then go through the training throughout the year as the fleet grows,” he noted.

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PlaneSense’s jet program customers will be able to fly aboard the PC-24 in late February or early March, following proving flights and the addition of the jet type to the company’s Part 91K/135 ops specs. "The PC-24s will be flying into a lot of airfields that don't see jets, so we have already begun to evaluate taxiways and ramp space at these airports," Antoniadis said. "This includes places such as Chatam Municipal Airport in Massachusetts and Newport State Airport in Rhode Island."

The fractional provider will take delivery of two more PC-24s next year and three more in 2019. As the PC-24 fleet grows, Antoniadis told BJT sister publication Aviation International News, the company's four Nextant 400XTis will be “retired,” eventually returning PlaneSense to an all-Pilatus fleet of PC-12 turboprop singles and PC-24 jets.

Shares are already sold out in the first PC-24, Antoniadis said, noting that demand for the aircraft is strong. PlaneSense has an order for six PC-24s, but the company clearly wants more. Pilatus capped pre-certification orders to 84, covering the first two years of production, and it plans on re-opening the order book next year. "We will be placing orders for more PC-24s when Pilatus re-opens that," Antoniadis said, but he wouldn't specify an amount.

While PlaneSense looks to expand its jet fleet, he stressed that the PC-12 will remain as the company's backbone. "We took delivery of five new PC-12s in 2017, and we currently have 36 of them in the fleet," Antoniadis said. "Our PC-12 fleet will remain significant and only strengthens our offering of a jet. The PC-12 continues to be very popular with our customers."