Why The Pilatus PC-24 Can Land On Grass Runways Most Private Jets Cannot

Credit: gribosek | Shutterstock | Simple Flying Published Nov 6, 2026, 6:00 PM EST Passionate about promoting aviation, the beauty of flight and the science behind it, Antonio is an avid reader of aviation magazines and books, and he loves visiting airshows all over the world, taking photos and writing about airplanes and helicopters as well. He is currently based in Palermo, Sicily. Sign in to your Simple Flying account Park a typical business jet beside a wet grass strip, and its crew will probably look for another airport. A jet engine inhales air at tremendous speed, so a loose stone or a splash of mud can turn a routine landing into a six-figure repair. But one Swiss twinjet has been formally approved to do exactly what its rivals avoid. According to Pilatus, the Pilatus PC-24 is certified for takeoffs and landings on grass, wet soil, dry sand, gravel, and snow-covered unpaved runways. That sounds like a brochure line until you read the certification record. The real question is not whether a PC-24 can touch down on turf once, in perfect weather, but how Pilatus convinced regulators to approve it as normal operation. The answer involves a flooded English field, a snowy test site in northern Canada, a specific main-wheel pressure, and a design decision taken years before the first prototype flew. But first, why do almost all of its rivals stay on the pavement? Why Most Private Jets Stay On Paved Runways Credit: Victoria Agronsky | Simple Flying The short answer is that they were built that way on purpose. As we explained here, most business jets are optimized for efficiency, speed, and comfort on paved runways, while unpaved operations demand reinforced landing gear and specialized tires that add weight. Modifying a finished design to cope would be expensive and impractical. We also noted that turbofans are less forgiving than propeller aircraft when it comes to foreign object damage, the industry term for debris sucked into an engine. Grass adds problems that pavement never poses. A wet turf strip can lengthen braking distances, ruts and soft patches can punish the nose and main gear, and a hidden stone is invisible from the cockpit. For a pilot of a conventional jet, every one of those variables is a reason to divert. For an engineer, each one is a design requirement that must be met before the first landing, not after. There are exceptions, but they come with asterisks. According to the same report, the Dassault Falcon 20 and Falcon 50 can land on dirt and gravel after being fitted with a special service bulletin kit, yet neither was originally designed for it. The PC-24 started from the opposite direction. Pilatus says the jet was developed for rough-field use from the outset, a mindset inherited from its PC-12 turboprop, and the company markets it as the “Super Versatile Jet.” That distinction matters more than it sounds. A jet that can be coaxed onto a grass strip by a brave crew is one thing; a jet whose manufacturer has proven the maneuver to aviation authorities is another. So what did that proof actually look like? How Pilatus Certified The PC-24 For Rough-Field Operations It took two stages. Pilatus first obtained certification for dry sand and gravel in 2018, then spent all of 2019 on a post-certification test campaign. In a media release dated February 7, 2020, the company announced full rough-field approval, adding grass, wet soil, and snow-covered unpaved runways. As reported by AOPA in its coverage of the PC-24's expanded rough-field certification, European regulators approved the aircraft's expanded unpaved-runway capabilities, with US approval following. This gave the eight-seat jet access to a much wider network of airports. According to Pilatus' own technical brochure, the PC-24 can access almost twice as many airports worldwide as competing business jets, thanks largely to its ability to operate from unpaved runways. The EASA requires certification tests to be flown on different surfaces, so Pilatus took the jet across two continents. Business Jet Traveler listed the grass-runway sites as Goodwood and Duxford in England, Kunovice in the Czech Republic and Poitiers in France. According to our previous report, engineers also flooded an English field with about 45,000 US gallons (170,000 liters) of water to mimic rain of roughly 0.16 inches (4 mm) per hour, and the PC-24 coped. In the Czech Republic, crews rehearsed single-engine take-offs, engine failures and the loss of ground spoilers and anti-skid, with heavy rain adding to the challenge. Wet soil was arguably the hardest case. Pilatus says the Woodbridge site in England required complex conditions to be reproduced in part, just to meet every specification for take-offs and landings on wet dirt. The company also took the jet to Kuujjuaq, Canada, for snow-covered gravel, a surface where visibility, drag and braking all change at once. Passing a braking test was only part of the job. Engineers also wanted to know what the surface did to the airplane: whether snow packed into the flaps, whether stones reached the engines, whether brakes and steering held up. Nothing was ingested by the engines and the jet performed better than expected. Which raises the obvious follow-up: what did Pilatus build into the aircraft to make that possible? The PC-24 Uses Specialized Landing Gear For Grass Runways Credit: Pilatus Aircraft Ltd The PC-24 uses long-stroke trailing-link landing gear that smooths out uneven ground, and its main tires run at 73-76.5 psi (5-5.24 bar) so the aircraft does not sink into soft surfaces. A trailing link hangs each wheel from a pivoting arm, so the wheel can rise and fall over a bump without hammering the airframe. The logic behind the tire pressure is the same as snowshoes: lower pressure spreads weight across a larger footprint, which matters when the aircraft weighs up to 18,700 pounds (8,500 kg) at takeoff. Then comes the engine problem. The two Williams FJ44-4A turbofans, each producing about 3,400 pounds of thrust (15 kN), sit high on the rear fuselage, far from the stones and spray the wheels throw up. The same report adds that the wing flaps shield the engines from debris. During the Canadian trials, one prototype carried instrumentation and cameras to show whether snow or slush built up on the flaps, fuselage or landing gear, so engineers could compare the impact with dry gravel. Braking was a separate question. According to our previous report, Pilatus asked whether steering was affected, whether the brakes were sufficient, and how the anti-skid system behaved on loose surfaces. Those details determine whether a crew can stop a fast, heavy aircraft on a surface that gives way underfoot, and we checked them through inspections and recorded data rather than assuming them. Rugged feet are only half of a rough-field jet. The other half is the wing, and it hides the most counterintuitive trick in the design. How does an airplane that cruises at 440 knots arrive so slowly? The PC-24 Combines 440-Knot Speed With Short-Field Performance Credit: Pilatus Aircraft Ltd A jet capable of cruising at 440 knots might seem an unlikely candidate for short, unimproved runways. Yet that combination of speed and short-field performance is precisely what sets the Pilatus PC-24 apart. Much of the credit goes to its large double-slotted flap system, which Simple Flying credits with delivering the performance the aircraft needs. Pilatus lists a take-off distance of 3,090 feet (942 meters), and our specification list puts the landing distance at 2,410 feet (734 meters) over a 50-foot (15-meter) obstacle, both measured on a dry paved runway at sea level. At the other end of the envelope, Pilatus says the PC-24 cruises at 440 knots (506 miles per hour, or 815 km per hour) and flies up to 2,000 nautical miles (2,301 miles, or 3,704 km). The aircraft's capabilities are not just theoretical. Simple Flying reports that in an interview conducted with Ashley Fredricks, the first woman to fly the PC-24, one memorable stop was at Valemount, British Columbia. The airport had no control tower, no fuel facilities, and a runway measuring just 3,900 feet (1,200 meters). Fredricks said the jet did not need the entire runway to land or take off. After the stop, the crew flew directly to San Jose, California, more than 1,100 miles (1,770 km) away. That combination of jet speed and short-field flexibility makes the PC-24 more than an unusual aircraft specification. It also raises a practical question: who is actually buying a jet capable of operating from dirt strips? Where The PC-24’s Grass-Runway Capability Matters Most Credit: Pilatus Aircraft Ltd In the 2020 announcement, Pilatus chairman Oscar Schwenk said the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, along with operators in North America and Africa, already used rough-field runways on a regular basis. For an air ambulance serving the outback, landing close to the patient instead of at a distant paved airport can change the whole timeline. The newest example is Indonesia. According to a Pilatus release dated March 30, 2026, the Indonesian Ministry of Defense signed for twelve PC-24s to support pilot training, air transport and liaison missions. Pilatus says the jet’s ability to use short and unpaved runways, which improves access to remote islands in a nation of 17,000 of them, was a decisive selection criterion. Pilatus adds that the PC-24 is certified for single-pilot operation and carries a standard cargo door, which makes it useful for training and liaison flights as well as passengers. That combination, a jet that can carry freight, fly with one pilot and still reach a small strip, is exactly what a government fleet looks for when its territory is mostly water and small runways. Both of those buyers are betting that the capability will keep mattering. The open question is whether any rival will spend the years of testing needed to challenge it, and that question shapes everything that follows. The PC-24’s Grass-Runway Advantage Changes Business Aviation Credit: Pilatus Aircraft Ltd The significance goes beyond one aircraft. Because certification is evidence rather than marketing, the PC-24’s rough-field approval works as a barrier: a competitor would need to repeat a multi-site, multi-surface campaign like the one Pilatus flew across England, the Czech Republic, France and Canada before making the same claim. A manufacturer cannot bolt that credential on after the fact. There is also a quieter commercial effect. Pilatus says the PC-24 reaches almost twice as many airports as competing business jets, and every extra airport is another destination without a car transfer, a second flight, or a long drive. For an owner, that can turn a three-hour road trip into a short hop. For an operator, it widens the customer base for anyone whose business sits far from a major runway. The clearest test will be the order book. Pilatus had delivered 100 PC-24s by the end of 2020, and the Indonesian contract shows government buyers now cite unpaved capability as a deciding factor. If more air forces, air ambulance services and remote-region operators follow that logic, the grass strip stops being a curiosity and starts being a market. One caution belongs here. Certification describes what the aircraft is approved to do, not a promise that every field is good, so crews still judge each strip on the day. The question to see is which other jet will be certified to follow it.