SIX BRAND NEW PT-6 AIRCRAFT PURCHASED FROM CHINA JOIN SLAF FLEET

Six brand new PT-6 aircraft purchased from the China National Aero-technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC) for primary training of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has joined the SLAF fleet.

Air Force Commander Kapila Jayampathy signed the formal final acceptance of the aircraft after they were assembled at the Aircraft Engineering Wing (AEW) at SLAF Base, Katunayake on Wednesday.

Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy signed the acceptance of the aircraft at AVIC Hongdu in Nanchang, China on May 15. In 2015, the National Security Council approved the request to purchase the six PT-6 aircraft at a cost of more than USD 5 million. PT-6 has been widely used by China’s Air Force and countries such as the United States, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

P T - 6 aircraft is a single-engine, tandem seat propeller trainer capable of performing primary flight training

SLAF said the aircraft, painted in the recently introduced colour scheme of the SLAF, would be utilized at the No1 Flying Training Wing at the SLAF Academy, China Bay for the training of newly enlisted pilots.the aircraft will also form the nucleus of an aerobatic display team to be formed in the SLAF.

SLAF Chief of Staff ,Air Vice Marshal Sumangala Dias, members of the Air Force Board of Management and representatives of the Aviation Engineering Division of the M/S CATIC of China, the manufacturer and vendor of the Aircraft attended the ceremony.