Dunleavy plans purchase of new $6.5 million Swiss turboprop
The interior of the Pilatus PC-12 NGX.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy is again asking the Legislature to buy a high-performance $6.5 million turboprop airplane that the Swiss manufacturer claims is the “most versatile and valued business aircraft in the world.”
The proposed budget calls for buying a Pilatus PC-12 NG, which is mainly used around the world for business transportation, as well as by small airlines, governments and law enforcement agencies.
But if the state plans to buy the current version of the aircraft, it will be a PC-12 NGX, which the company began selling in 2019 to replace the PC-12 NG, the older model.
The plane has a range of about 2,000 miles and can carry up to 10 passengers at 330 mph. It can take off from runways as short as 2,485 feet.
While the budget language says the PC-12 would be used for “emergency rural response,” its use would not be limited to emergency rural response.
The state has proposed buying a PC-12 before. In 2019, the request was for $9 million, which was to include money for maintenance and for two pilots at $125,000 a year. The plane was expected to cost $4.5 million, but there would also be expenses for maintenance and hiring two pilots.
Dunleavy recycled the request in the budget a year ago, that time for $6.2 million, with no allowance for maintenance or pilots, but the Legislature refused to include it in the capital budget.
The latest request is for $6.5 million. It’s not clear if the costs of maintenance and pilots is reflected in the spending plan.
“This aircraft has great potential for DPS (Department of Public Safety) considering its performance capabilities, the large cargo door, and its ability to convert the interior for transportation of passengers, cargo, search and rescue, or a combination of these services. The Pilatus PC-12NG would be able to provide a broader level of service to Alaskan citizens than similar turbine powered all weather aircraft,” the Dunleavy administration said in a budget document last spring.
Again, the Pilatus PC-12 NG has not been built for several years, so it is likely the state is referring to the PC-1G NGX.
The state has always framed the discussion as necessary for law enforcement and flying to small airports across the state. No doubt the plane would be used that way, but it would also be available to the governor and others in the executive branch.
“With the sale of the aging DPS King Air 200 in 2016, the Department lost the capability to respond to approximately 124 airports across the state which have both paved and gravel runways,” the public safety department said in late 2018 about the $9 million request.
Last spring the public safety department said the average age of its aircraft is 42 years. It included numerous maintenance projects for this year that would total $7.5 million.
“The ability to meet the need of the aircraft section's responsibilities has begun to degrade with the large amount of work of vendor-based maintenance for the aircraft. Such degradation could result in grounded aircraft if maintenance schedules cannot be met or executed,” the department warned in a budget document last spring.
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