PC-9
ICAO PC9The Swiss trainer that became the T-6 Texan II. Live PC-9 positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No PC-9 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
- Advanced turboprop training
- Class
- L1T — Landplane, 1 turboprop engine
- Crew
- 2
- First flight
- 7 May 1984
- In service
- 1985
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the PC-9
The PC-9 is the aircraft the American T-6 Texan II was derived from, and outside the United States it is flown in its original form by a long list of air forces: Switzerland, Australia, Ireland, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and others.
It occupies a useful middle ground. A turboprop costs a fraction of what a jet trainer costs to fly, but the PC-9 is powerful and responsive enough that students can go straight from it to a fast jet, which is why several air forces have eliminated an entire training stage around it.
The PC-21 is its successor and is gradually taking over. Both appear on this site.
Callsign prefixes
- SUI
- Swiss Air Force
- IAC
- Irish Air Corps
- ASY
- Aussie — Royal Australian Air Force
How to recognise it
- —A low-wing single turboprop with tandem seats under a continuous bubble canopy.
- —A four-bladed propeller and a tall, sharply swept fin.
- —Very close in outline to a T-6 Texan II, which was developed from it.
Common questions
+ Is the PC-9 the same as the T-6 Texan II?
The T-6 was developed from it. Beechcraft licensed the design and changed a great deal — a stronger structure, a different engine installation, pressurisation — so they are related but not interchangeable.
+ Who flies the PC-9?
Switzerland, Australia, Ireland, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and others, though several are moving to the PC-21.
+ Why use a turboprop to train fast jet pilots?
Cost. A modern turboprop trainer flies fast enough and handles sharply enough to teach most of what a jet trainer would, at a small fraction of the hourly cost.