Higher Payload, Improved Interior, Predictive Maintenance

Pilatus has upped the full-fuel and maximum payloads of its proven and popular PC-24 light business jet by an impressive six-hundred-pounds (272-kilograms). The increase facilitates a two-hundred-nautical-mile increase to the aircraft’s six-passenger range.

Beginning with new aircraft delivered in 2024, the full-fuel, single-pilot payload of Pilatus’s PC-24 will be raised to 1,315-pounds (596-kilograms). The aircraft’s maximum payload capacity will be increased to a class-leading 3,100-pounds (1,406-kilograms).

Pilatus vice-president of engineering Bruno Cervia stated: "The payload increase was achieved by refining both wing and fuselage structural elements to reduce the airframe empty weight while simultaneously increasing the maximum gross take-off weight limit. It’s simply Swiss engineering at its best.”

To define the PC-24’s flight-envelope at the higher design weights, Pilatus engineers undertook an extensive flight test campaign. At the aircraft’s new maximum take-off weight, balanced field length at sea level is an impressive 3,090-feet (941-meters). Moreover, the PC-24 is capable of operating from unpaved runways—a rarity among straight-pipe jets.

In addition to useful increases in the aircraft’s payloads, Pilatus Engineers endowed the latest iteration of the PC-24 with enhancements the likes of reduced cabin ambient sound-levels, refined cabinetry and storage areas, and the optional inclusion of a large, side-facing divan which can be converted into a bed.  

By dint of a partnership with Lufthansa Technik, Pilatus’s PC-24 now sports a new integrated Cabin Management System (iCMS) featuring a ten-inch touch-screen controller with 3D moving map, four high-fidelity cabin speakers with a sub-woofer option, mood-lighting, USB ports, and a media storage server.

Beginning with serial-number 501, all factory-new PC-24s will be equipped with a telemetry feature that enables predictive services. Upon landing, the described aircraft will automatically transmit key aircraft data directly to Pilatus for analysis. In the event Pilatus technical personnel detect inchoate anomalies, aircraft owners/operators will be provided predictive recommendations vis-à-vis preemptive maintenance.

Pilatus CEO Markus Bucher set forth: “More range, greater payload, enhanced comfort, and increased operability were the primary focus of this major PC-24 improvement program. The PC-24 upgrade includes over one-thousand modifications throughout the aircraft. Yet again, we went all the way to the limits of what is possible, making maximum use of our engineering capabilities to deliver the best PC-24 ever. With this major upgrade, there is simply no other business jet on the market capable of consistently performing like our Super Versatile Jet”.

The first new PC-24 to showcase the convertible divan will be on static display at the National Business Aviation Association's Annual Convention in Las Vegas October 17-19.

In 2007, following the success of its storied PC-12 single-engine-turboprop, Pilatus commenced design work on the PC-24—a twin-engine, straight-pipe, light business jet. The aircraft was introduced on 21 May 2013, rolled out on 01 August 2014, and made its maiden flight on 11 May 2015. The PC-24 received EASA and FAA type certification on 07 December 2017 and the first customer delivery was made on 07 February 2018. Powered by two Williams FJ44 turbofans, the PC-24 competes with Embraer’s Phenom 300 and Cessna’s Citation CJ4.

FMI: www.pilatus-aircraft.com