Pilatus B-4

The Pilatus B4-PC11, also called the PC-11 in the Pilatus numbering, is an all-metal Standard Class glider built by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland, with a 15 metre wingspan, no flaps and air brakes on the top of each wing. The design began in the 1960s as the B-4, made by Firma Rheintalwerke G. Basten and drawn by Ingo Herbst, Manfred Küppers and Rudolf Reinke, and its first prototype flew on 7 November 1966. Pilatus bought the manufacturing licence in 1972, renamed it the B4-PC11 and flew the first production example that spring. Pilatus built 322 gliders of all versions by 1980, including the aerobatic B4-PC11A and B4-PC11AF, before selling the licence to Nippi of Japan, and EWMS Technomanagement took over the rights in 1994. Construction is aluminium with foam ribs, and the glide ratio is about 35 to 1.