V-617

V-617 is a Pilatus Aircraft PC-6 Turbo Porter, a single-engine turboprop. SkyMeter has tracked 146 flights totalling 155 hours of airtime via ADS-B across 4 callsigns. The most frequent segment is LSME to LSME. Service window in our records spans 308 days. Of those flights, 16 (11.0%) carry at least one detected incident — go-around, unstable approach, stall warning, or runway excursion. The Pilatus Aircraft PC-6 Turbo Porter has a maximum takeoff weight of 6,173 lb, light wake category.

About the Pilatus Aircraft PC-6 Turbo Porter

The Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter is a Swiss-built single-engine turboprop renowned for its exceptional short takeoff and landing performance and rugged utility design. First flown in 1959 and continuously refined over six decades, the PC-6 can operate from unprepared strips as short as 600 feet, making it the aircraft of choice for mountain operations, skydiving, humanitarian missions, and remote cargo delivery where no other fixed-wing aircraft can go. Its boxy fuselage, high wing, and fixed landing gear prioritize function over speed, and the type remains in production today—a testament to its unmatched versatility in the utility aviation niche.

Powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT6A turboprop producing around 550 shaft horsepower, the Turbo Porter climbs at over 1,000 feet per minute even at high density altitudes and cruises at a modest 130 knots. Maximum takeoff weight is just over 6,000 pounds, and the aircraft can carry up to ten passengers or equivalent cargo, though skydiving operators often configure it for a pilot plus eight jumpers. The PC-6's defining capability is its ability to land and depart from glaciers, jungle clearings, and high-altitude airstrips where larger aircraft cannot venture—it has served everywhere from the Swiss Alps to the Himalayas to the Australian Outback.

The type's slow-speed handling and docile stall characteristics make it forgiving in the hands of bush pilots, while its robust airframe tolerates the punishment of thousands of skydive cycles. Though never a speed demon, the PC-6 Turbo Porter has outlasted countless competitors by doing one thing superbly: going where others can't. SkyMeter has tracked flights across airframes and operators, with the largest observed operator.