PC-7 Turbo Trainer
ICAO PC7The Swiss turboprop that started the modern trainer family. Live PC-7 positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No PC-7 Turbo Trainer is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Pilatus
- Role
- Basic flight training
- Class
- L1T — Landplane, 1 turboprop engine
- Crew
- 2
- First flight
- 12 April 1966
- In service
- 1978
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the PC-7 Turbo Trainer
The PC-7 is where the modern Pilatus training line begins. It took the piston-engined P-3 airframe, fitted a turboprop, and produced an aircraft cheap enough to fly constantly but powerful enough to teach real handling — a formula the PC-9, PC-21 and the American T-6 all descend from.
More than twenty air forces bought it, and many still fly it: Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Mexico, India, Botswana and others. The Swiss PC-7 Team flies nine of them as the national display team.
It is a genuinely long-lived design — the first military deliveries were in 1978 and Pilatus still supports and upgrades the fleet.
Callsign prefixes
- SUI
- Swiss Air Force
- AUSTRIAN
- Austrian Air Force
- NAF
- Royal Netherlands Air Force
How to recognise it
- —A low-wing single turboprop with tandem seating under a long, gently stepped canopy.
- —A three-blade propeller on most examples and a rounded, upright fin.
- —Smaller and softer in outline than a PC-9, with a less pointed nose.
Common questions
+ How is the PC-7 different from the PC-9?
The PC-9 is a more powerful, substantially redesigned successor with a bigger engine, a stepped cockpit and better performance. The PC-7 is the original turboprop trainer of the family.
+ Who flies the PC-7?
Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Mexico, India, Botswana, Chad and others. It has been exported to more than twenty air forces since 1978.
+ What is the PC-7 Team?
The Swiss Air Force display team, flying nine PC-7s in the national colours. They perform across Europe and are a common sight on the feed during the display season.