With several thousand hours in the PC-12/45M I can tell you there is NO WAY you can "stuff" 17 people in this plane. If they in fact had 17 they were probably sharing seats and seat belts, illegal as hell. The PC-12 is very docile and well balanced in respect to loading and CG accross a very wide range.
Having flown medical flights into the Enterprise valley, OR (where this outfit was located) I will look into what the deal was on this operator.
Even if the aircraft had an engine failure you should never allow yourself to be in a situation where you can't make the runway. The PC-12 is flown like a glider i.e. always with sufficient energy and altitude to make your intended landing point (Engine or no engine). Operations with this airplane require following similar profiles to noise abatement departures as well as constant rate decents on all approaches with no/minimal drag until landing is assured. Even with an engine failure at 500 feet, it is possible to land back on the departure runway thanks to the extraordinary glide ratio of this plane.
Sad to say the least.
DBW