On Saturday 23 November 2019, the final three Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Pilatus PC-21s touched down on Australian soil at RAAF Darwin (NT). All three, serial A54-047, A54-048 and A54-049, were in an overall grey colour scheme with 4sq markings.
The first PC-21 (A54-001/HB-HWA) arrived on 18 February 2017 at RAAF Darwin. The last three, out of an order for 49 aircraft, arrived a little over 33 months after the first one. Each delivery flight took the pilots 30+ hours flying time to complete, covering more than 19,000 km through 10 countries.
The Pilatus PC-21s replaced the Pacific Aerospace Corporation (PAC) CT/4B Airtrainer and the Pilatus PC-9/A training aircraft. All aircraft were flown to RAAF East Sale (Vic.) for acceptance. Of the 49 aircraft, 42 (including the Roulettes display team) are based at RAAF East Sale and RAAF Pearce (WA). Three PC-21s (one in a grey scheme) are based with ARDU at RAAF Edinburgh (SA) and the last four in the grey scheme are with 4sq at RAAF Williamtown (NSW).
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