Orlik 149 Pilatus Pc-6 Porter

The Pilatus PC-6 Porter is a modern Swiss multirole aircraft. The flight of the prototype took place in 1959, and serial production started in the same year and - according to company plans - is to last until 2019. About 600 machines of this type have been built so far. The machine - in the PC-6 B2 version - is 11 meters long with a wingspan of 15.87 meters. The drive is provided by a single Pratt and Whitney Canada PT6A-27 engine with a power of 680 HP.

The PC-6 model was developed by the Swiss company Pilatus Flugzeugwerke in Stans, Switzerland. The company wanted to create a multi-purpose, single-engine high-wing aircraft with STOL properties, i.e. shortened take-off and landing. These goals were achieved and the PC-6 Porter aircraft turned out to be a successful design. In the course of production, many versions were created (e.g. PC-6 A-1, A-2, B1, B2 or B2-H-2), which differed from each other mainly in the drive units used. It is worth adding that the machine was manufactured under license by Fairchild Aircraft under the name Fairchild Hiller. In this version, she took an active part in the Vietnam War (1964 / 1965-1975). The machine was widely used by civil and military users in countries such as Austria, Argentina, Iran, Switzerland and the USA.