Ready for Take-off
Engine
Another 750XL starts
Cockpit (click to enlarge)
One component which very definitely is the same is the Pratt and Whitney PT-6 turbine which powers the aircraft. At NZ$600,000 each they are a large proportion of the final aircraft's cost but the engine has proven itself in the Cresco as extremely reliable and able to cope with the heavy demands of repeated take-off and landings that aerial top-dressing requires with ease.
PAC operates all of its own fabrication facilities on site, with CNC milling machines, a large laser cutting machine and a staff of highly experienced aluminum components craftsmen. Mr Polley says keeping staff, particularly if the dairy industry is busy, is one of his more difficult challenges. He says while the company has tried outsourcing work it has often had difficulty with subcontractors' inconsistency of standards which has tended to make the company more self-reliant.
One of the biggest potential problems facing the 750XL is it could easily be too successful. The Hamilton plant can at best only make one a month. If the aircraft is a hit that capacity will not be enough. And there is good reason to think the plane will be a hit.
For a start it has been built to climb. This will please the skydivers who want to get people into the air as quickly as they can and in the US alone there are an estimated 800 aircraft needed for this market. The tandem diving craze, in particular, has seen a huge increase in the number of people involved in, skydiving, as otherwise staid office workers spice up their tourism experience with something more exciting.
The 750XL has also been designed to land on floats. With many of the old World War Two-vintage Beaver aircraft in the Canadian north facing retirement Mr Polley believes there will be demand for a reliable floatplane which can carry a reasonable load into remote locations.
