Chad is the editor of AINalerts, AIN's daily business aviation newsletter, and is also the news editor at AIN Media Group.&nbsp;He has been writing about aviation, with an emphasis on business aviation, since 1994. Chad started his writing career at The Avion,&nbsp;the&nbsp;student newspaper at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, serving as editor-in-chief before graduating with a bachelor's in aeronautical science. After a stint as managing editor at Professional Pilot&nbsp;magazine, he joined&nbsp;AIN in late 1998. Chad holds a commercial pilot certificated with instrument and multi-engine ratings, and he also is a CFI/CFII. He lives and works from his home in Venice, Florida.

Online Editor

Chad Trautvetter

Pilatus Aircraft has signed a 10-year agreement with Tata Aircraft Systems Ltd. (TASL) for assembly of PC-12 aerostructures at TASL’s facility in Hyderabad, India. Under the deal, TASL will deliver the first complete PC-12 NG structure in the second half of 2016. The project includes tooling, jigs and training of TASL’s personnel at Pilatus facilities in Switzerland.


TASL is replacing Poland-based PZL-Swidnik, a Pilatus supplier that has been producing PC-12 structures. “By the middle of 2016 the contract with PZL-Swidnik, on mutual agreement, will cease,” Pilatus CEO Markus Bucher told AIN. He is confident that TASL is up to the task, since the Tata subsidiary has set up a “number” of similar aerostructure programs for global OEMs over the past five years.


“The partnership is also important in the context of Pilatus’s offset obligation resulting from the sale of the PC-7 Mk II Training Aircraft System to the Indian Air Force,” Bucher said. In 2012, <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/paris-air-show/2011-06-19/paris-2011-india-selects-pilatus-pc-7-urgent-trainer-requirement">Pilatus sold 75 PC-7 Mk II turboprop trainers</a> to India’s air force.

Pilatus Taps India’s Tata To Make PC-12 Aerostructures

The project includes tooling, jigs and training of TASL’s personnel at Pilatus facilities in Switzerland.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN