Pilatus PC-12
ICAO PC12A single-engine Swiss turboprop used for everything from police patrol to special operations. Live PC-12 positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30sAirframe
- Manufacturer
- Pilatus
- Role
- Utility transport and surveillance
- Class
- L1T — Landplane, 1 turboprop engine
- Crew
- 1 to 2
- First flight
- 31 May 1991
- In service
- 1994
Operators airborne
About the Pilatus PC-12
The PC-12 is one engine, a big cabin, a cargo door and enough short-field performance to use a grass strip — a combination that has made it the default choice for organisations that need to move a few people or a sensor a long way without a jet budget.
Its most interesting military user is United States Air Force Special Operations Command, which flies it as the U-28A Draco: a discreet intelligence and surveillance aircraft that looks like a business turboprop and is used precisely because it does. Ireland, Finland, Bulgaria and Switzerland fly it in more conventional roles.
Most airframes on this page, though, are police and border agencies. The type is heavily used for patrol and surveillance by state operators, and those aircraft transmit routinely.
Callsign prefixes
- POLICE
- State and police surveillance operators
- IAC
- Irish Air Corps
- SPAR
- US Air Force special air mission flights
How to recognise it
- —A single large turboprop with a T-tail and a long, deep cabin with square windows.
- —Winglets on later examples and a prominent cargo door on the rear left fuselage.
- —Surveillance versions carry a sensor turret under the forward fuselage.
Common questions
+ What is the U-28A Draco?
A militarised PC-12 flown by US Air Force Special Operations Command for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Its value is partly that it looks like an ordinary business turboprop.
+ Why do so many police forces fly the PC-12?
It is cheap to run for its size, needs very little runway, carries a useful sensor fit and has the endurance to patrol for hours. For surveillance work a single turboprop is usually enough.
+ Is one engine a problem?
Pilatus designed the aircraft around that question, and the PT6A is among the most reliable turboprops ever built. It is certified for single-engine commercial passenger operations in most jurisdictions.