Country of origin:

Switzerland

Description:

Two-seat military training aircraft

Power Plant:

One 709 kw (950 shp) flat-rated Pratt & Whitney (Canada) PT6A-62 turboprop

Specifications:

Armament:

Nil

History:

The PC-9 was a development of the very successful PC-7 Turbo-Trainer, the latter having the flat-rated 410 kw (550 shp) PT6A-25 engine, the PC-9 having the PT6A-62 flat-rated at 709 kw (950 shp) for take-off.  Other changes included tandem seating to improve visibility, revised controls, a new high-speed wing section to cope with the extra power, the installation of Martin-Baker ejection seats, and other improvements. The PC-9 was designed as a high-performance trainer suitable for all aspects of training, from basic to advanced.  The design was initiated in May 1982 and the first of two pre-production aircraft (HB-HPA – c/n 001) flew on 7 May 1984, being followed on 20 July 1984 by the second (HB-HPB – c/n 002).

The PC-9 was submitted to meet the RAF’s AST-412 requirement but lost out to the Shorts/Embraer Tucano. However, it has been very successful in other areas, being chosen in modified form to meet a requirement for a trainer by the US Air Force, and was in production for some years. The PC-9 was also submitted to meet RAAF trainer requirements, but this requirement was shelved pending the development of the indigenous designed Wamira.  In the event, on 16 December 1985 the Australian Government, because, it was said, of lateness and various problems in the Wamira programme, announced the cancellation of the local design and signed a contract for the purchase of 69 examples of the PC-9, with the first development aircraft delivered in 1987, and licence production of the type in Australia by the consortium which had been involved in the development of the Wamira.

The PC-9 Mk 2 for the USAF was substantially re-designed, this including a strengthened fuselage and pressurised cockpit, new digital avionics including GPS, MLS, collision avoidance system and provision for HUD. An engineering test-bed flew on 23 December 1992 and subsequent aircraft were assembled by Beechcraft at Wichita in Kansas, testing taking place at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, being known as the Raytheon Beech Mk II. At one stage Pilatus considered building the series at the Britten Norman plant in the United Kingdom to circumvent Swiss legislation which prevented its sale with the capability of being fitted with armament. Other operators of the PC-9 include Cyprus, Myanmar, Thailand and Switzerland.

The first PC-9/A for the RAAF (A23-001) flew on 19 May 1987 and was displayed at the Paris Air Show in June 1987.  First deliveries to the RAAF were to take place in July 1987 but this was delayed by an electro-magnetic interference problem with the PT6A-62 engine and this took a couple of months to rectify. First deliveries began in October that year, the first two for the RAAF being flown to Australia as HB-HQA (c/n 501) and HB-HQB (c/n 502), later becoming A23-001 and A23-002.

By late 1986 the Australian order had been reduced to 67 aircraft (A23-003 to A23-067 – c/ns 503 to 567) because of the decrease in the value of the Australian dollar.  The contract specified two aircraft would be delivered from Switzerland. The next six aircraft were to be provided in kit form plus main components for a further 11 aircraft. Hawker de Havilland at Bankstown, NSW was to assemble the final 48 aircraft in Australia.  Hawker de Havilland, Melbourne (formerly Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation) manufactured the wings and GAF the fuselage. Final assembly and test flights were carried out at Bankstown.  The first two aircraft (A23-001 and A23-002) were produced on the Swiss production line at Stans, and these were delivered to the Central Flying School at East Sale, VIC, at the end of 1987 in fly-away condition, being used initially for instructor training and flying syllabus development.

The RAAF’s training syllabus then meant that the AESL CT-4 would perform the first 20 hours of initial flying training and then the PC-9 would be used, its time extending into the former time spent on the Macchi MB-326, thus providing cost savings and increasing the lifespan of the Macchi MB-326 and CT-4.  However, in 1993 the CT-4 series was withdrawn from service and sold to civil operators. In the late 1990s the Macchi was also withdrawn, most of the initial training of air force pilots being carried out subsequently by private organisations. The first Australian assembled PC-9/A (A23-003) flew on 14 November 1987 and was accepted by the RAAF on 9 December.

The first RAAF training with the type commenced in January 1990 at Point Cook, VIC.  Three were delivered to ARDU for evaluation. Initially the type was painted white and orange but later they were painted red and white.  Service life was expected to be 10,000 hours. One (A23-006) was finished in an overall blue colour scheme and was the personal aircraft used by the Chief of Air Staff, later being placed on display at the Bicentennial Airshow at RAAF Richmond, NSW in 1988.

Following the retirement of the CAC Winjeel in the Forward Air Control role, four aircraft were attached to the Forward Air Control Development Unit and these were modified to have a high gross take-off weight, high pressure tyres, additional radios for communicating with Army units and four underwing stores pylons, becoming known as the PC-9/A(F).  Two of these pylons carried extra fuel tanks to increase their endurance to four hours; the other two being for the carriage of up to 24 Mk 18 smoke grenades, these being used for target marking.

Painted light grey, these aircraft carried the names of four RAAF Victoria Cross winners, Flt Lt William Newton, Flt Sgt Rawdon Middleton, AVM Frank McNamara and Wing Cdr Hughie Edwards.  In this role they were regularly involved in exercises with the Australian Army in both the ground defence phase and the armed strike phase, in the former providing target information for simulated strikes by FA/18 Hornets.  Martin Baker CH.11A ejection seats were installed and they were capable of operating at speeds of 111 km/h (69 mph) to 740 km/h (460 mph) from sea level up to 12,192 m (40,000 ft).

Deliveries to No 2 Flying Training School at RAAF Pearce, WA commenced in 1989. The last aircraft (A23-067) was accepted in May 1992.  In its first ten years of service with the RAAF the type was very successful, with only a few aircraft being lost in accidents. Losses included A23-035 on 5 August 1991 near East Sale, VIC and A23-055 on 21 March 1992 at Albany, WA.  In addition the type had become the aircraft used by the RAAF’s aerobatic team, the Roulettes, the team relinquishing its Macchi MB-326s in 1990, and was seen regularly around the country at aviation events and other venues.  Most PC-9s were based with No 2 FTS at Pearce in WA, and Sale in VIC.

Further development of the series has continued, one of the latest variants being known as the PC-21, the prototype of which flew on 1 July 2003.  The PC-9 served with the air forces of Saudi Arabia, Burma and Croatia. Civil aircraft have been operated for the Luftwaffe in Germany for target towing; and a variant has been supplied to the USAF/US Navy and the RNZAF as the Raytheon Beech Mk II.

The RAAF PC-9 fleet was in service for many years and was due for replacement from 2012 under Project Air 5428. In the meantime, an avionics upgrade was carried out in 2007 involving the installation of EFIS glass displays and GPS, the first aircraft being converted in Switzerland in 2006.

In 2016 the Australian Government announced the PC-9 would be replaced by the Pilatus PC-21 and in late 2017 deliveries of the latter by air commenced from Stans in Switzerland, the first two being delivered with Swiss registrations. Replacement of the PC-9 was completed in December 2019.

During 2018 most PC-9s were retired, a few to be delivered to museums and the rest sold overseas. One is been delivered to HARS at Albion Park, NSW, A23-028 to the Navy Museum at HMAS Albatross, Nowra, NSW and a number were placed on the market by the Department of Defence for auction to interested buyers. The aircraft formerly operated by the RAAF at Williamtown, NSW, were flown to RAAF Wagga Wagga, NSW to be used as Instructional Airframes and one has been placed on display at the Fighterworld museum. In March 20120 six were shipped to Blue Air Training of Pensacola, US where they are to be used for training experience in close air support operations.