Elite Traveler Spring 2019

Pilatus PC-24 BEST JET FOR DROPPING INTO BURNING MAN

Those attending Burning Man on the playa of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert arrive in nearly every type of conveyance, including private aircraft touching down at the festival roughly 100 miles northwest of Reno, Nevada. An ideal bird for this event, Pilatus PC-24’s new twin jet delivers excellent unimproved- runway performance and short-field capabilities, all the better to give your guests an aerial view of the city before landing at Black Rock City Airport (88NV). The two 6,000-ft runways of compacted desert floor are designed to take a variety of private aircraft, though they lack the length and weight capacity for many jets that we recommend for other events. Between the Nevada desert’s late-summer heat and 88NV’s field elevation at 3,912 ft above sea level (msl), this airport imposes some serious limitations — particularly at the peak of the day’s heat. But these challenges are well within the capabilities of a PC-24. As many a bush pilot would say, it’s a piece of cake. $8.9m, pilatus-aircraft.com

BY THE NUMBERS Passengers 11 Range 2,000 nm Max speed 506 mph Landing distance 2,375 Rate of climb 4,070 ft/min Operating cost $2,755 per hour

Photos Katsuhiko Tokunaga/DACT, INC., Joel Silverman, Jeff Frey & Associates freyphoto@mac.com