Pilatus Porter PC-6

The Pilatus Porter is a rarity, but despite its scarcity, it is a well-proven bush plane. The Pilatus Porter has operated in some of the rougher environments on the planet - from the jungles of New Guinea to the Sahara desert and to lesser wilds, such as shuffling skyjumpers about in the continental United States. 442 Porters were manufactured by Pilatus in Switzerland. Fairchild Hiller aircraft produced 92 (including ten kits provided by Pilatus) in the US. The United States Air Force and Army operated a few Porters. Originally a piston engine design, the Pilatus Porter was quickly fitted with turboprop engines (Snecma Astazou, Pratt & Whitney PT-6s and Garrett TPE-331s). It appears that currently about 250 Porters are in active operation around the world.

The Pilatus Porter can carry 12 people (more when flying skydivers) and, for its size, has phenomenal STOL performance. The Porter holds a world record for highest landing of a fixed wing aircraft when it was landed on the Dhaulagiri glacier in Nepal. The Pilatus Porter landed at an altitude just shy of 19,000 feet (an altitude that many fixed-wing planes cannot even attain).

Watch this Pilatus Porter do an extreme short field landing at Apowo in Papua.

Another amazing short field landing on a slope at Apowo in Papua.

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