RAAF Select Pilatus PC-9 as New Trainer

While the Macchi replacement was put on ice the Federal Government of the day decided to form the Australian Aircraft Consortium to design and develop a new trainer designated A10 Wamira. Following three years of overruns in both time and monetary terms the DoD decided in July 1985 to reopen the contest in order to overcome some of the problems that had afflicted the AAC.

What occurred was a headlong battle between Pilatus, offering their PC-7 and PC-9 aircraft and Hawker de Havilland of Sydney with a vastly cleaned-up version of the Wamira designated A 1OB. This aircraft was offered very bravely by HdH on a firm contract basis of $184m and was broadly comparable in performance terms to the Pilatus PC-7. The PC-9 on the other hand was a vastly more capable, albeit expensive aircraft in all ways. Its performance was vastly superior to the less powerful competition and it could also be employed as a light weapons platform if required for the close air support and training role. It is worth mentioning that both foreign aircraft though did not meet a number of key requirements in the initial, and revised, RFTs of the DoD. Neither had grass field capability and both were tandem seat aircraft while the PC-9 was by far an excessively capable aircraft according to the originally stated RAAF requirement on which the entire Wamira programme was founded. This change of heart was a windfall for Pilatus though was to spell the end of AAC and their A10B.

So what will be the benefits of operating the vastly more expensive PC-9 over either the PC-7 or the A 1OB? Ironically the extra cost of the PC-9 will also enable the RAAF to save up to $20m a year (1985 dollars) in overall training costs through being able to shift much of the Macchi flying into the regime of the new turboprop. Essentially speaking the present situation sees the RAAF using the CT-4 for 60 hours and the Macchi for 140 hours. With either the PC-7 or the A 1OB the situation would have been 100 hours on the turboprop and 100 hours on the Macchi. With the PC-9 it is anticipated that the situation will now see the CT-4 being used as a grading aircraft for the first two dozen or so hours (a time in which around half the trainees wash out), the PC-9 for 120 hours and the Macchi for the final 60 hours. The savings of the equation are clear when it is realised that the basic hourly operating costs of the little CT-4 is $300, the PC-9 $900 and the Macchi around $1500.

Full use of the PC-9 out to 120 hours hasn’t been fully approved as yet though. There is a slight reticence within the RAAF as to this so a leased PC-9 will hopefully be further evaluated at East Sale later this year in an effort to further fine tune the training curriculum. Pilatus representatives though, going on the RAF evaluation of the aircraft, feel that it will satisfy the demanding RAAF requirement hands down and may even be used later on in the weapons training role which would again relieve some of the burden on 2OCUs Willjamtown-based Macchis.

The PC-9 itself is quite a substantially new aircraft though to many it is conceived largely as merely an uprated version of the established PC-7. Indeed it features barely 10% commonality with its lightweight brother and features such niceties as a raised rear cockpit, zero-zero Martin Baker ejection seats, revised wing planform, new ailerons, ventral air brake and of course a vastly more powerful engine. Power is supplied by a derated (from 1150shp} Pratt & Whitney PT6A-62 engine of 950shp which provides a maximum speed of 308mph at sea level and 345mph at 20,000ft. Indeed initial climb rate is a stunning 4000ft a minute which is on a par with the better WW2 fighters while the type has a service ceiling of 38,000. Maximum zero fuel weight is 1900kg and maximum training takeoff is 2250kg. Maximum ‘g’ is + 7 and -3. 5 while two full training missions can be carried out without refuelling. This and the excellent climb rate will enable a PC-9 training unit to perform many more operational sorties in a typical day than the present CT-4 force.

The PC-9 commenced development in May 1982 as Pilatus, already flush with a bulging order book for their successful PC-7, realised the need for a more powerful trainer which could undertake much of the training schedule of the present-day jets. First flight was in May 1984 and series production commenced late in 1985 for a batch of 40 aircraft, 30 of which are designed for the Royal Saudi Air Force. The RAAF meanwhile will take its first two aircraft direct from the Stans, Switzerland production line of Pilatus. Production will then move to Hawker de Havilland’s Bankstown Sydney facility with CAC and GAF operating on a sub-contractor basis.

While Australia did miss out on the design phase of the aircraft, there still remains around 11,000 hours of work involved in designing a soft field capability undercarriage. Other RAAF required mods will centre around the installation of an Australian-developed airframe fatigue meter, a few minor cockpit mods, the installation of strobe lighting and improved stall warning. The PC- 9 is available with either a Collins dual-screen EFIS primary flight display and artificial horizon (which is approved for full aerobatics) or standard analog instrumentation. Also available is a Head Up Display (HUD) though it is not known yet whether or not the RAAF will opt for either the HUD or EFIS. This will be decided later in the year though the HUD would be most desirable if the aircraft is to be ultimately used in the weapons training role.

Overall Australia will be tasked with building around 85% of the total programme in addition to HdH having exclusive regional marketing rights. The RAAF has hinted that it may also ultimately acquire more than 69 aircraft while third-party export possibilities exist in New Zealand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Additionally, the Pilatus Australian Industry Involvement (nee AIP) package also mentions HdH entering as a partner on a future light transport and light helicopter development project. The transport would be in the Dornier 228 or Twin Otter class while the light helo would be akin to a Jetranger class aircraft which would be surprising as neither country has any practical experience in the design and development of a helicopter.

So the RAAF has its new trainer, and a fine machine at that, and industry has still most of the workload – what will result is a three-tier training system but one which will ultimately promise to save the RAAF upwards of $20m a year in addition to setting back the requirement to buy an expensive Macchi replacement by at least a decade as both the Macchi and Airtrainer will now soldier on till the turn of the century.