Pilatus PC-12

The PC-12 is a pressurised single-engine turboprop that many people assume is risky because it has one engine. The record points elsewhere. Up to 3 November 2026, our data lists 25 fatal events, and only one of the 18 that count, all since 2008, began with an engine stopping. Many involve cloud, night flying and a pilot flying alone.

Who flies a PC-12?

Pilatus of Switzerland built it. It first flew in 1991 and entered service in 1994, and it is still in production. About 2,200 have been built, with about 2,000 in service. Owners fly it themselves, companies use it, and charter operators and air ambulance services run it, including the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Australia. It seats up to nine and has a large rear cargo door. Since 2008 it has flown about 5.8 million flights, not counting the US Air Force U-28s.

Is the single engine a problem?

It is a fair question. A twin has a backup, a single does not. The PC-12 uses a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A, a type with a long, strong record in turbine engines. In our data one counted event began with an engine failure: on 5 March 2017, an Air Charter Services flight near Kamphaeng Saen, Thailand, lost its engine after an oil leak from a loose fitting, probably after poor maintenance according to the ASN summary. The co-pilot died.

That is one case in 18. Engines are not the main killer. But a single engine has less margin if it fails over mountains, forest or the sea, so routes matter.

The record by flight purpose

Our business rules count all civil flights:

The score counts only accidents and flights from 1 January 2008 on. Two fatal events since then are excluded: US Air Force U-28 flights, on 18 February 2012 and 14 March 2017. Five events before 2008 are listed as history but do not count.

With 18 counted events in about 5.8 million flights, confidence is medium, and the PC-12's own record weighs far more in its score than the record of the other modern business turboprops, the King Air 350 and the TBM.

The one counted charter event is Majuba Aviation near Plettenberg Bay, South Africa (8 February 2011, nine dead). Two charter crashes from 1998, Heading South in Kenya (nine dead) and Avcon in Czechia (two dead), came before 2008 and do not count.

The largest event overall is Eagle Cap Leasing near Butte, Montana, on 22 March 2009: 14 people, seven of them children, died on an aircraft fitted with ten seats. The ASN record says no fuel anti-icing additive was used, although the flight manual requires it below 0°C, and ice in the fuel system left one wing heavy with fuel.

What comes up most

Cloud and loss of control. In six records, the autopilot disconnected or showed a fault in cloud, and the aircraft then left controlled flight. Examples are near Recluse, Wyoming, on 26 July 2024 (seven dead) and near Stagecoach, Nevada, on 24 February 2023 (five dead), a night medical flight where the cause of the disconnect was never found. A single pilot has no one to share the workload when a disconnect happens in cloud at night.

Medical flights show up several times: Stagecoach in 2023, Amarillo in 2017, Faridabad, India, in 2011 and Thailand in 2017. That is the nature of the work. It is night flying, short notice and bad weather.

How to check an operator

• Ask for the air operator certificate and confirm it with the aviation authority.
• Ask if the flight has one pilot or two, and about recent training in manual flying with the autopilot off.
• Ask what the operator does if the weather turns at night.
• Look for an independent safety audit.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight trackers show PC12. For a twin turboprop alternative, see the King Air 200. The faster single-engine Daher TBM has a weaker record per flight. Pilatus's twin-engine jet, the PC-24, has no counted fatal event in far fewer flights.