Pilatus Aircraft

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Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG

logo
legal form Corporation
ISIN CH0002189535
founding December 16, 1939
Seat Stans , SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland 
management Markus Bucher, CEO
Oskar J. Schwenk , Chairman of the Board
Number of employees 2283
sales 1.09 billion CHF (2018)
Branch Aircraft construction
Website www.pilatus-aircraft.com
As of December 31, 2018

The Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. or Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG is the most important aircraft manufacturer in Switzerland . Training and smaller multi-purpose aircraft are manufactured at the company's headquarters in Stans . In addition, Pilatus has subsidiaries in the USA and Australia as well as another subsidiary for aircraft maintenance, Altenrhein Aviation AG at the St. Gallen-Altenrhein airport . In 2018, the group of companies generated sales of 1.09 billion Swiss francs with 2283 employees worldwide. The company is named after Mount Pilatus, about 10 km west of Stans . The Buochs ​​airfield , which the Pilatus Flugzeugwerke uses for all test and delivery flights, is adjacent to the company premises .

history

The foundation of the Pilatus Aircraft Ltd was held on 16 December 1939th The founders were Emil Bührle and the Elektrobank . Initially only active in maintenance, the Pilatus aircraft works began in 1940 with the construction of the SB-2 Pelikan , an aircraft designed for use in mountainous regions. However, the company only gained importance with the two Pilatus P-2 and P-3 models , which formed the cornerstone of the training aircraft division. With the legendary PC-6 , also known as the Pilatus Porter , the second mainstay in the multi-purpose aircraft market was established in 1959.

Pilatus also built some prototypes that did not go into series production and remained individual pieces: the SB-2 Pelikan , P-4 and PC-8 Twin Porter short-take-off aircraft . With the Pilatus P-4 valuable data was obtained for the later PC-6. Because customers wanted better engine performance, Pilatus developed the twin-engine PC-8 Twin Porter based on the PC-6. The only PC-8 (aviation registration number: HB-KOA) was also presented at the Aerosalon in Paris. In the meantime, however, by upgrading the PC-6 with a turbo-prop unit, Pilatus had achieved a more effective and simpler increase in performance (PC-6T); the only PC-8 was scrapped.

The following Pilatus projects were canceled before construction began: The STOL Pilatus SB-1 experimental aircraft . The Pilatus SB-5 , a larger and more powerful version of the Pilatus SB-2 Pelican. The Pilatus P-1 , a single-seat trainer, the P-1 provided the template for the two-seat Pilatus P-2 training aircraft. The Pilatus P-5 was a design for a combat field observation and artillery instruction aircraft. Various twin-engine tactical transport aircraft were designed under the designation Pilatus PC-10 .

From the late 1970s, the Pilatus PC-7 powered by a turboprop replaced the P-3. Over 450 of these were sold over the next few decades. On October 3, 1982, the Pilatus aircraft factory in Stans was the target of an arson attack . In the mid-1980s, the more powerful Pilatus PC-9 supplemented the Pilatus Aircraft range in the training aircraft market. The newest training aircraft from Stans is the PC-21 ; the type certificate was issued at the end of 2004 by the Federal Office for Civil Aviation. During a training flight in mid-January 2005 a prototype of the PC-21 crashed. However, the flight ban imposed on the type could soon be lifted again, as it turned out that the accident had been triggered by a pilot's error.

Since significantly fewer fighter pilots had to be trained after the end of the Cold War and consequently fewer training aircraft could be sold, Pilatus Aircraft again focused more strongly on the multipurpose aircraft market in the 1990s. The PC-12 created from 1994 a new class of efficient single-engine multi-purpose aircraft with a turboprop engine. It demonstrated similar or better flight performance than many of its multi-engine competitors at far lower operating costs. By July 2017, Pilatus was able to sell around 1500 PC- 12s. The PC-12 costs from USD 2.9 million and is already fully equipped at USD 3.5 million.

As a subcontractor to RUAG Aerospace, Pilatus manufactured parts (outer wings) for the Swiss F / A-18 . Even before that, Pilatus was involved as a supplier in all license production of jet jets and helicopters for the Swiss Army and would also have been involved in the FFA-P-16 production (which was canceled). As a subcontractor of RUAG, Pilatus manufactures parts for Airbus and Boeing and also carries out maintenance work on aircraft such as aircraft on behalf of RUAG. B. the AS332 Super Puma.

In 2011, Pilatus began planning a business jet under the name Pilatus PC-24 . It is the Pilatus' first jet aircraft. On May 21, 2013, Pilatus unveiled the concept at the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva and presented the prototype for the company's 75th anniversary on August 1, 2014 at the company's headquarters in Stans. The prototype of the twin-engine jet took off on May 11, 2015 after just 600 meters from the runway for the first time on its 55-minute maiden flight in front of numerous spectators. The second prototype (HB-VXB) had its first flight on November 16, 2015. The third prototype (HB-VSA) was rolled out at the end of February 2017. The first flight of the third and last prototype “P03” HB-VSA took place on November 6, 2015 March 2017. The first PC-24 was handed over to the plane sharing company PlaneSense from Colorado in March 2018 . The total development costs for the Pilatus PC-24 amounted to over 500 million Swiss francs .

In the 2018 financial year, sales of more than one billion Swiss francs were achieved for the first time. Observers attribute this primarily to sales of the PC-24, of which 18 machines were able to be delivered. In addition, 80 PC-12 NG, 27 PC-21 and three PC-6 were sold; As of mid-2019, the books still contain aircraft orders worth 2.1 billion Swiss francs. More than 90% of the 2,283 employees work in Switzerland.

Main shareholders

The two main shareholders consist of Ihag Holding AG (descendants of the Bührle weapon dynasty ) and the Southfield holding company owned by Swiss investor Jörg F. Burkart.

Pilatus Britten-Norman

In 1979, Pilatus Aircraft took over the British company Britten-Norman , which manufactures robust multi-purpose aircraft that are tailored to simple conditions. In 1998 Pilatus sold the company again, until then the Islander and Trislander types had been sold under the company name Pilatus Britten-Norman .

Pilatus gliders

Pilatus glider

In the 1970s, the Pilatus company entered a new field with the series production of the all-metal B4 glider. The B4 - "B" stands for Basten (Rheintalwerke G. Basten), in which the development took place - was developed by the German engineers Ingo Herbst, Manfred Küppers and Rudolf Reinke and made its maiden flight at the end of 1966. After extensive market research, the Pilatus-Werke decided in 1970 to include the B4 in their production program. The whole construction was revised and adapted to the stricter building regulations, so that the additional designation PC-11 appeared justified. The first B4 / PC-11 made its maiden flight on May 5, 1972. The B4 / PC-11 is a standard class glider and is suitable for group operations as well as for performance pilots, but also for high-altitude and cloud flights and above all for unrestricted aerobatics training. Before the production rights were sold to the Japanese company Nippi, 322 all-metal B4 / PC-11 gliders had been delivered worldwide.

With additional stringers on the fuselage, cracked and bumped figures are also permitted, the designation is then B4 / PC-11AF.

criticism

Pilatus PC-21 training aircraft

The turboprop training aircraft were mainly sold to the air force . The company has hit the headlines time and again since the 1970s for selling versions of gun cases to developing countries .

The export of military training aircraft is not subject to the Swiss War Material Act, but to the Goods Control Act. For this reason, the authorities can only stop deliveries of such aircraft if there is an arms embargo imposed by the UN on a recipient country . This has been criticized by human rights and peace organizations since the 1970s, as Pilatus training aircraft were subsequently armed and used for close air support in various developing countries and crisis areas .

In 1989 the Federal Council announced that Pilatus planes were being used against civilians in Burma and Guatemala . A little later it became public that the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein was flying Pilatus aircraft against Kurdish insurgents in northern Iraq. In January 1994 Pilatus planes were used against Zapatista farming villages in Chiapas ( Mexico ). Assumptions that the Chadian army were using Pilatus aircraft against refugee camps in Darfur were confirmed in January 2008. The export of several PC-9s had already been criticized by various organizations in 2006.

Pilatus PC-9 aircraft were part of the controversial “Al Yamamah” deal between Great Britain and Saudi Arabia . Later, in addition to 22 Hawk training aircraft from BAE Systems , 55 PC-21s were also delivered from 2014 onwards. In 2017, a contract was signed for the maintenance of these machines by Pilatus employees on site. The FDFA assumed that such contracts with air forces from several Middle East states involved in the Yemen war had not been properly reported to the federal government in accordance with Art. 935.41 and began an examination of these services in January 2019.

Pilatus aircraft in aerobatic teams

Aerobatic team country Type comment
P3 flyers SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland P-3 civil team
Patrol Martini FranceFrance France PC-7 civil team
Patrol Ecco FranceFrance France PC-7 civil team
Patrol Adecco FranceFrance France PC-7 civil team
Les Apaches FranceFrance France PC-7 civil team
Patrouille Suisse SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland PC-6 Support / transport only PC-6T V-622 «Felix»
PC-7 team SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland PC-7
Silver Falcons South AfricaSouth Africa South Africa PC-7
Alap-Alap formation BruneiBrunei Brunei PC-7
Taming sari MalaysiaMalaysia Malaysia PC-7
Solo display team NetherlandsNetherlands Netherlands PC-7 as well as an F-16 and an AH-64
Blue Phoenix ThailandThailand Thailand PC-9
Krila Oluje CroatiaCroatia Croatia PC-9
Roulettes AustraliaAustralia Australia PC-21 From 2018 to 2019 change from the PC-9 to the PC-21
Swiss Air Force
PC-21 demo		 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland PC-21 Swiss Air Force, only occasionally demonstrated
so as not to compete with Pilatus Aircraft
Pilatus Aircraft PC-21 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland PC-21 civil, demonstration with 1 or 2 aircraft
Wings of Qatar QatarQatar Qatar PC-21 The Wings of Qatar will replace the Wings of Storm (PC-9).

Trivia

  • In 1964, the area and the immediate vicinity of the Pilatus aircraft factory became the location for some scenes from the third James Bond film Goldfinger . In the film, the Pilatus aircraft works represent Goldfinger's ( Gert Fröbe ) camouflage factory Auric Enterprises , where the protagonist melted the individual parts of his gold, disguised as Rolls-Royce, into gold bars. The front view and the front building of the Pilatus aircraft factory have changed since 1964, but the remaining parts of the building are still largely identical to the scenes in the film.
  • Pilatus Aircraft also plays a role in the 2006 film Vitus by Fredi M. Murer . Vitus' enthusiasm for flying is carried over to his grandfather, who then visits the company and buys a PC-6 on which Vitus celebrates the breakout into "his" life at the end of the story.
  • The company has given its name to the Pilatus Peak in Antarctica since 2016 .

Web links

Commons : Pilatus Aircraft Ltd.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d sda / gku: Thanks to the PC-24, Pilatus cracks the billion mark . In: Handelszeitung. May 14, 2019, accessed May 14, 2019 .
  2. ↑ For the establishment, see letter from Antoine Gazda of the WO to Oberstdivisionär Bandi, in: Peter Hug: Swiss armaments industry and war material trade at the time of National Socialism . Chronos, Zurich 2002, pp. 874–876.
  3. ^ History. The future in sight - for 70 years. History of Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG, 2009.
  4. ↑ Erich Aschwanden: Politically motivated arson attack on the Pilatus aircraft factory. In: nzz.ch . October 7, 2019, accessed October 7, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Successful model: 1500. Pilatus PC-12 delivered . In: aerokurier . ( aerokurier.de [accessed on August 19, 2017]).
  6. ↑ a b Chronicle - Crafted in Switzerland. ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Chronicle 1939–2013 of Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG, p. 6 (PDF; 1.2 MB).
  7. ↑ HB-VXB | Pilatus PC-24 | Pilatus Aircraft | Mirko Bleuer. Accessed July 6, 2019 .
  8. ↑ undefined undefined: New business jet from Switzerland: Second PC-24 takes off for the first flight. November 16, 2015, accessed July 6, 2019 .
  9. ^ Swiss Aircraft Register. Retrieved July 6, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Le troisième Pilatus PC-24 aux essais! Retrieved July 6, 2019 (French).
  11. ↑ BUOCHS: Third PC-24 took off for the first time. Retrieved July 6, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Pilatus delivers the first PC-24 jet | NZZ . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . February 8, 2018, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed July 31, 2018]).
  13. ↑ The high-flyers from Stans (view from February 10, 2013) https://www.blick.ch/news/wirtschaft/in-3-monaten-lueften-sie-ihr-flugzeug-geheimnis-die-ueberflieger-von-stans -id2199731.html aft Southfield of the Swiss investor Jörg F. Burkart.
  14. ↑ El avion de la discordia. In: Swissinfo . July 20, 2006 (Spanish).
  15. ↑ A weapon against weapons: For more transparency in the problem areas between the arms industry, arms policy and international humanitarian law in Switzerland. Documentation published by the Society for Threatened Peoples , 2004.
  16. ↑ Pilatus-Porter. Delivery of spare parts to the government of Mexico. Federal Council opinion of May 18, 1994 on Motion 94.3072 of March 2, 1994.
  17. ↑ Pilatus aircraft equipped for war missions. ( Memento of April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: 10vor10 . Information broadcast on Swiss television , January 17, 2008.
  18. ^ Felix Birchler: Civil War, Poverty, Corruption ... and Pilate. ( Memento from March 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: GSoA newspaper. September 18, 2006.
  19. ↑ Pilatus-Werke deliver PC-9s to Chad. In: NZZ online. July 8, 2006.
  20. ↑ Pilate also involved in the Al-Yamamah deal. In: Alliance against War Material Exports. March 9, 2007.
  21. ↑ Saudi Arabia gets first six PC-21 trainers , flightglobal, June 11, 2014
  22. ↑ Saudi Arabia buys Swiss PC-21 planes. In: tagesanzeiger.ch . May 23, 2012, accessed December 31, 2018 .
  23. ↑ Deal with Saudi Arabia - new e-mails shed light on the Pilate affair. In: watson.ch . December 31, 2018, accessed December 31, 2018 .
  24. ^ Federal government examines the activities of Pilatus in Saudi Arabia in depth , NZZ, January 10, 2019

Coordinates: 46 ° 58 '28.6 "  N , 8 ° 22' 55.3"  E ; CH1903:  671 783  /  two hundred and three thousand and forty-eight