34 | Flight International | 5-11 June 2018 flightglobal.com
OPERATIONS
❯❯working with EASA and together have defined
a path for the Cessna Denali to achieve compli-
ance with the regulation.”
Once technical compliance is achieved,
some time will need to pass to prove reliability
compliance figures. A first prototype is in as-
sembly at Cessna’s Wichita headquarters, with
first flight expected by the end of the year.
FIRST-MOVER DISADVANTAGE
Edwin Brenninkmeyer, chief executive of
Biggin Hill, UK-based Oriens Aviation, a
PC-12 dealer that manages 12 of the type at
the moment, says the problem in the UK is
the expense of being the first in any given
country to upgrade to SET-IMC standards.
The first to do it has to write the books and
prove the case to the national aviation author-
ity. Once somebody does it, says Brennink-
meyer, the task becomes progressively cheap-
er, encouraging more to take that step.
Europe’s operating expert on the subject of
SET-IMC, particularly using PC-12s, is Matti
Auterinen, chairman of Vantaa, Finland-
based Hendell Aviation. Since 2008, his com-
pany has had an AOC as an EU commercial
carrier, and was one of the first to be given
SET-IMC exemptions for particular services
before the EASA approval became effective.
Auterinen has been working with EASA
for years to define the challenges of SET-IMC
and find ways to overcome them. For that rea-
son he has unparalleled experience in draw-
ing up PC-12-specific operating procedures
for approval by the European agency, and is
highly sought after by operators who want to
set up similar operations.
Auterinen explains what he believes the
problem is in parts of Europe – including the
UK – at present: “I think the challenge is more
about the complexity of running a modern
small airline in the EASA environment – all
the increasing requirements on management,
the safety management system and compli-
ance – than about operating the single-en-
gined aircraft itself.” He also points out that it
would help operators if there was a PC-12
full-flight simulator located in Europe, but
even Pilatus does not offer one.
Ian Austin, managing director of UK-based
Jet Exchange, is fully rated as a PC-12 pilot
and manages one of the type for a group of
four co-owners. It is a busy aircraft by the
standards of privately-owned business types,
working about 600h a year. He says he is
planning to obtain an AOC as a PC-12 opera-
tor, has contracted Biggin Hill-based Total
AOC to help him draw up the manuals and
prepare to meet the management require-
ments, and is looking for another PC-12 with
owners that want to offset their costs by
working it harder under an AOC. He says he
hears the point Auterinen makes about the
lack of a PC-12 simulator in Europe, but says
it can be cheaper to give pilots training time
in the aircraft itself.But there are indeed some PC-12 operators
with a commercial AOC in Europe,
Auterinen points out, because his organisa-
tion is the enabler for many of them. “The
majority of our operation nowadays is man-
aged from our Lausanne operations control.
Our commercial sales department is also
there. Our own business is expanding rapid-
ly now, with a total of eight PC-12s being
operated commercially.
“One is in Finland and seven are elsewhere
in central Europe. This year we expect to op-
erate a fleet of more than 10 aircraft under a
commercial AOC. In total, our continuing air-
worthiness management [CAMO] business
takes care of 13 aircraft.”
Hendell, together with FLY 7 Executive
Aviation, fully manage the PC-12s for theirowners with full service on AOC, CAMO, op-
erations, crewing and sales through the exten-
sive sales network, as well as brokerage.
Auterinen calls the service “jet look-a-
like” for the charter customers. “The model
has been found very efficient by our
customers,” he adds. His ambitions go much
higher, however – more in line with what the
aircraft manufacturers might have begun
dreaming about when EASA gave its
SET-IMC permission.
Auterinen says: “In the future we are
aiming to command our own fleet for
dedicated charter and scheduled routes,
which we cannot disclose at this stage. How-
ever, the current model provides us with
sustainable growth, and at the end we will
have the strength to expand and design new
business models, having already created a
strong basis with a pool of pilots, a training
model, and so on.”
The Auterinen model looks like the future
that operators such as Jet Exchange dream of.
Austin himself admits that one of the primary
problems an operator faces is attracting quali-
fied crew, keeping them fully trained, and re-
taining them in strength. Flying a PC-12 into
demanding destinations, especially in IMC, is
a job for a two-pilot crew – and he admits
most customers expect to see a full crew.CADET SCHEME
Austin is considering the possibility of offering
a “cadet scheme”, where new pilots with a
commercial pilot licence with instrument rat-
ing (CPL/IR) and multicrew co-operation
course fly the PC-12’s right-hand seat for “not
much money but excellent crew training”.
Flying a single-turboprop like a Caravan
might have been seen as an entry-level job
for a new pilot with a CPL/IR. But EASA
regulations acknowledge that the position of
a commander flying a commercial SET-IMC
flight demands much more than minimum
commercial pilot licence experience in
terms of total flying hours (minimum 700h),
time in command (minimum 400h), and
time flying under IFR (minimum 100h), so
this is not an entry-level piloting job.
For that reason, commanders will have to
be attractively paid or there will certainly be a
supply problem. On top of this there will be
the expense of the specialist SET-IMC train-
ing, as Austin acknowledges.
He observes that PC-12s are expensive to
buy – but with a full cabin, the fuel use per
passenger compares with a family car, so op-
erating costs are low, and training in the air-
craft itself is relatively low cost, too. Hendell
sends pilots to the USA for simulator train-
ing because there are sufficient PC-12s there
to make a simulator pay, enabling crews to
practise exercises that would be too risky in
the aircraft.“Private owners see an
opportunity to charter out
their aeroplane”
PilatusCessna is developing its Denali to meet
EASA’s SET-IMC requirementsTextron Aviation