Grob G120TP
ICAO G12TA German composite turboprop that has quietly become a standard basic trainer. Live G120TP positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30sAirframe
- Manufacturer
- Grob Aircraft
- Role
- Basic flight training
- Class
- L1T — Landplane, 1 turboprop engine
- Crew
- 2
- First flight
- 10 August 2010
- In service
- 2012
Operators airborne
About the Grob G120TP
The G120TP is built almost entirely from carbon fibre, which makes it light, strong and — importantly for a training aircraft — cheap to run and fully aerobatic. Grob had been building composite aircraft since the 1970s, long before the practice was normal, and this is the military product of that experience.
Britain flies it as the Prefect T1, and it is the aircraft most Royal Air Force and Royal Navy pilots now do their basic flying on. Mexico, Indonesia, Myanmar, Jordan and Ecuador operate it too.
Like every basic trainer it produces a lot of short sorties from a handful of bases, so it shows up on this feed well out of proportion to the size of the fleet.
Callsign prefixes
- RRR
- Ascot — Royal Air Force
- CRANE
- A recurring UK basic training block
How to recognise it
- —A low-wing single turboprop with side-by-side seating under a large sliding canopy.
- —A five-blade propeller and a very smooth, seamless composite fuselage.
- —Side by side rather than tandem, which separates it immediately from a T-6 or PC-9.
Common questions
+ What is the Prefect T1?
The Royal Air Force designation for its G120TP fleet, operated under contract at RAF Barkston Heath and Cranwell for basic flying training.
+ Why is the G120TP made of composite?
Grob specialises in it. A carbon fibre airframe is lighter and does not fatigue the way aluminium does, which suits an aircraft that will fly thousands of short, aerobatic training sorties.
+ Is it related to the Grob Tutor?
Same manufacturer, different aircraft. The Tutor is the smaller piston-engined G115; the G120TP is a larger turboprop. Both are used for British military training and both appear on this site.