Pilatus pc12- how short is too short a field?
 

Just a thought experiment, after I saw the Irish Air Corps take delivery of 3 aircraft in addition to 1 already in service.

there’s a number of 600m paved airstrips around the country, (mostly on some islands) currently served by Aer Arann in BN-2s. I understand the PC-12 has an 800m strip requirement, but I wonder if, with weight restrictions, could that be brought back?

Might be able to make the case for pushing out at least one airfield to 800, spae available to do it, but you’d wonder if getting the fuel off would allow the plane in without it.

anyways, what’s the chances of getting a PC12ng onto and off of a 600m strip? Paved and grass?

PC12’s land regularly at St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly, from London etc, on its 32/14 runway which is less than 700m

St Mary’s has a pretty hefty gradient though.

wes..

Seal level and ISA, you can take 10‘000lbs off for a take-off distance 699 meters, which is just 400lbs shy of max gross on a PC12 NGX. Mind you this is total take-off distance over the required screen height NCO.... if your rules make you consider accelerate-and-stop, then you need to unload a few hundred pounds... by the way the PC-12 performance calculator, based on the certified AFM, is available for download in the app store, or refer to www.pilatus-aircraft.com.

What ground run is required ?
What obstacles are near ?
Day or Night ?
Vasis or Papi's ?
Minimum ground run operations require extreme prejudice and discipline .
Let your guard down and you could be chewing trees and rocks .
I will not let the FO land on short strips until they have proven that they can land the aircraft with precision on the chosen practice spot on a normal runway first . Practice makes it easy .
Train hard , fight easy .

hefty gradient downhill on 14 ;)

thanks for that, very detailed app as I can see, though I think my maths is a bit rusty....

The good news is the crowd that have the PC 12, the Irish Air Corps, are military, so they’re all about that kind of training. As professional a set of aviators as you can get in Ireland.