Originally Posted by
possel
I recall the story that on A&AEE evaluation of the Tucano, PC-9 and Firecracker at Boscombe Down, one pilot wrote that "entry to the Firecracker's cockpit was difficult and should be made impossible"!
For the record, there were two rounds of evaluations and that was where Desmond Norman went wrong: the other two aircraft manufacturers had modified their offerings after the first round so that they could actually be tested at the second, whereas Norman had simply produced the paper details of the modifications that could be made.
Des told me the RAF wanted to be able to see 250kt indicated in level flight, so Embraer carried out many 'mods' to the standard production airframe to fit the Garrett TPE 331 to achieve this giving it that ugly bulge under the nose.
Dunno what Pilatus did.