The ADF has graduated its first pilot’s course – No 258 Advanced Pilots Course – on the Pilatus PC-21 from 2 Flying Training School (2FTS) at RAAF Base Pearce.

Acquired as an element of the Project AIR 5428 Pilot Training System, the PC-21 replaced the older Pacific Aerospace CT-4E at Tamworth and the Pilatus PC-9/A as the ADF’s fixed-wing training aircraft from 2017.

Basic flight training on the PC-21 is now conducted at RAAF Base East Sale, before students progress to the ‘Wings’ course on the PC-21 at Pearce.

Graduates of the Wings course are either posted to operational fixed- or rotary-winged aircraft with Army, Navy or Air Force, while Air Force fast-jet pilots progress to the Hawk 127 at 79SQN at Pearce and then 76SQN at RAAF Williamtown before they are posted to operational types. The final PC-9/As were withdrawn from service in 2019.