That may be so, but that's not because they're "professionally flown." I hope you fly your plane professionally, too. I certainly do.

Being a single pilot operator of course does impact safety, unlike whether you're paid to fly or not.

Then why did you tell him to buy a slow airplane?
Mike C.

Can you load up your Piaggio and park on the grass at Oshkosh?

John is also a humble guy and will probably get mad at me for posting this, but this is the Pilatus flying relief supplies after the deadly Texas floods.

I jumped into a similar PC12 with a 7 blade earlier this year and understand a lot of John's sentiment. I'm also flying around an 80s (and 60s) vintage MU2, so I understand the new vs old thing.

I will say that the maintenance paradigms couldn't be further apart from the two. I feel like I can keep an MU2 polished up and maintained for... half? the cost of the PC12. Probably less. The example I flew was a clean 1500 hour example with only ~700 cycles too. 6 figure event for the 10 year checks and the shop suggested it was a clean example.

There ought to be an Apex start up guide, and I don't mean learning how to use it. I mean learning how to power the system on. Nothing in the AFM warns the pilot about potentially bricking avionics if turning on batteries isn't timed correctly.

Honeywell Apex can indeed get work done, but not at a pace I like.

Tuning radios with knobs--annoyingly slow
Booting up--annoyingly slow, with a risk of bricking the avionics if you rush it
Loading procedures--annoyingly slow
Displaying terrain--antiquated "radar-scan", also annoyingly slow

The 47 airframe is great. Roll and pitch forced are nice and light (I've heard 45s are heavy) and it's fun to throw around. Very easy to land smoothly and on short fields. Cabin config with the lav placement and cabin door with a sturdy rail (ahem, King Air) seems a great layout. Hats off to Pilatus there--but please incorporate a step damper for clueless guys to catch the stairs plopping down

Lighter wing loading and slow Mmo is sort of a bummer, but no one bought the plane to go fast.

Some perceived the 7 blade to be quieter. A quick dB meter I had suggested it wasn't. I attributed that to folks losing hearing in higher registers where 7 blade frequencies happen to be. Ground handling really worried me. Almost saw a tow bar (with the correct drop tow bar head) crest over a dip and push up on the tip of a prop blade, which always needs to be dressed with padded leggings. It's also 40-50 lbs heavier than the Hartzell 4/5 blades.

Even closing the cockpit curtain and opening the lav doors didn't make an appreciable difference in sound, but we gave it a go (<1 dB). Best case was the very, very back seat seeing 80 dBa doing 160 KIAS at 29000ft.



Cabin environmentals are downright excellent. All pressurized planes should have heating and cooling this effective, not to mention smooth pressurization transitions. I don't think I ever felt a cabin bump in the plane. Not once.

Easy to quip about everything, but congrats, John, on a nice machine and thanks for sharing your review. Enjoy it in good health

Working on that life plan. Taking donations.

Are sales of all Pilatus to the US still stopped due to the import taxes? Did Pilatus stop supplying parts to the US also?

https://aerospaceglobalnews.com/news/trump-tariffs-aviation-pilatus/

AFM normal procedures tells you exactly how to turn it on. “Standby bus switch, on, wait until MFD powers up (30 seconds) prior to switching batteries on” 5 steps later says test EPS for 5 seconds, then armed. Next step is batteries 1 and 2 on. 3000 hours in the 12, never had an AGM failure.

Touche, the AFM is actually pretty good. A local mx shop guide suggests a delay in batt 2 after batt 1 to give the MAU time to completely load channel A.

I should have said god help you if you rely on checklist for booting up Apex. Almost none of that detail on timing, what to look for, etc is there. Remembering which cyan CAS messages need to clear before engine start can be a little tedious, otherwise your AP may not calibrate or be inop that flight.

But you're right, you could whip open chapter 4 normal ops and enjoy going through line by line for a few pages to make sure you don't brick an AGM/MAU card/the autopilot

Well to be fair, not really the level of airplane to be relying on a checklist to help you not AOG an airplane-knowledge is required prior to. The same way you know not to throw fuel to the fire before 13% NG, like it said in the normal procedures (probably doesn’t say it on your engine start checklist).

Not sure how waiting on battery two would help a MAU channel when the MAU channels are electronically isolated from one other with their own independent power supply (channel a essential (under normal ops, and channel b the standby bus…which would have been on before batteries). When turning on battery one you close the bus tie, powering the entire essential and avionics 1. Avionics 2 and nonessential require GPU or generators on with engine.

The only CYAN you need to wait for is the the AP while it completes its self test.

Looks like an average shopping day for John’s girls!

Hi John …. hope all is well. Enjoy the new bird. I’ve managed to buy 4 different planes since we met, so it's nice to see you trying to keep up!

[quote="Chip McClure"
A good question to have asked would be "John, what didn't you consider a Conquest II or Piaggio"

The response would have likely been, because they are old and difficult to maintain and operate, I fly a lot of hours every year and I cannot risk the potential downtime and hassle of operating either of those aircraft.
[/quote]
FWIW, I have extensive experience owning/flying a TBM 900, Piaggio, and Phenom 300. The reliability (from best to worst) was TBM, Piaggio, Phenom. The Piaggio has been AOG once in 2.5 years for 2 days with a loose wire to the start-generator. The TBM was AOG for 1 day with a failed starter-generator. The Phenom had multiple issues, though was still pretty reliable. The only maintenance strike against the Piaggio is that once a year (major maintenance) it has to go only one of a handful of experienced service centers, which in my case, is in Tulsa. I've flown the thing all over the US and Mexico and took it to Europe for three months and back. I've had occasional minor stuff that you expect in an older airplane (eg, bulbs burning out) but the core systems have been fully reliable. And based on the owner-pilot iMessage chat I'm on, I don't think that's unusual.

The TBM 900 was my first turbine. But when the family grew to be two toddlers and two dogs, I outgrew it. I expected to buy a new PC-12; even showed up to the demo flight with my checkbook. But I hated hand flying it; I felt like a soccer mom. That's when I dry leased a Phenom 300 for 50 hours to feel it out. We found cabin was too small, and I missed beta/thrust reverse. That's how I got to the Piaggio. The c.w. that the Piaggio is a maintenance hog is totally misplaced. However, where I did blow a gazillion hours was doing due diligence on the plane and the company. I spoke to half a dozen owners, a guy whose private equity firm was under contract at one point to buy the entire company, and combed through the NTSB logs, where I was pleasantly surprised to see that in its 30+ year history, there's only been one fatal accident.

All-in, I slightly prefer my Piaggio to the Phenom before considering how much cheaper the Piaggio is. If I could get the extended fuel tank and Garmin in the same Piaggio (not currently possible), it would be game over: Piaggio fully better than Phenom.

Once more stupid responses from people that don’t know anything about Piaggios

I’ve been flying them off and on for 6 years… they are more reliable than any airplane I’ve ever had INCLUDING the Citation Mustang.

The central Texas Piaggio service center is SIMSAIR. … Best in the business Don Sims is located at Houston Executive.. you didn’t know this?

I fly mine all year long without needing maintenance attention (other than an ELT and batter cap check) in between.

In short, people that buy a PC12 over a Piaggio are buying an airplane that 100 knots slower, smaller, louder inside and just as expensive to maintain. Thats the facts.

Once more stupid responses from people that don’t know anything about Piaggios

I’ve been flying them off and on for 6 years… they are more reliable than any airplane I’ve ever had INCLUDING the Citation Mustang.

The central Texas Piaggio service center is SIMSAIR. … Best in the business Don Sims is located at Houston Executive.. you didn’t know this?

I fly mine all year long without needing maintenance attention (other than an ELT and batter cap check) in between.

In short, people that buy a PC12 over a Piaggio are buying an airplane that 100 knots slower, smaller, louder inside and just as expensive to maintain. Thats the facts.

We parked behind John at Osh in a Widgeon.

The most impressive thing about his camp was his young son who could throw perfect bombs farther than most men twice his size. John’s going to need that Pilatus to haul the cheerleaders on Friday nights…

The airplane is beautiful, and owned by a guy willing to load it up and park in the North 40. Nice!