NWT police are receiving one of four Pilatus PC-24 twin-engine jet aircraft as RCMP nationwide begin to replace their fleet.
“The need for an upgrade was realized probably 20 years ago, to be quite honest,” said NWT RCMP Chief Superintendent Dyson Smith.
RCMP in the territory previously used a single engine PC-12 aircraft. Smith said most planes being replaced will be an upgraded PC-12 model, while the NWT was prioritized for a PC-24 jet because a plane it leased from Ottawa crashed in Whitehorse in 2023 and it had been using a different leased plane since.
The new plane “has better capacity, greater payload and improved speed, which will get us to emergencies faster,” said Smith. “Almost all communities will see an improved service.”
An RCMP news release stated the PC-24, manufactured by Pilatus, cost approximately $21.5 million, which Smith said was “absolutely” worth it.
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“I think if it was twice as much money, it would still be worth it. You can’t put a price on public safety,” he said.
As with other things considered to be contract policing in the territory, Smith said the GNWT covered 70 percent of the costs for the plane, while the RCMP paid the remaining 30 percent.
Smith said other options – like chartering flights from northern airlines – were not considered because NWT RCMP didn’t want to be “waiting to hitch a ride with somebody else.”
“I don’t think the citizens of the territory deserve that, either. They deserve a force or an emergency service that can be responsive to emergencies as quickly as humanly possible,” he said.
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The plane arrived in the NWT on October 6 and has since flown to Hay River, Fort Liard and Paulatuk. It made the latter journey on Friday morning before reporters were invited to see the plane in Yellowknife.
At the speed and altitude the plane can travel – a flight from Yellowknife to Inuvik using the PC-24 jet will take one hour and 35 minutes, compared to two hours and 20 minutes with the PC-12 jet – Smith said RCMP can now make two trips in one day.
Smith said they haven’t considered if this means RCMP need more than the two pilots they currently employ. He said after a few months with the new plane, “if we see that we’re still running into some limitations that we can’t compensate for or shouldn’t have to compensate for, we will certainly be open to exploring that.”
“Right now, we’re confident with the increased speed and capacity that we’ll be able to manage, at least for now, with the current staffing levels,” said Smith.
The PC-24 jet was designed to meet NWT RCMP’s biggest challenge: moving people. Smith said the previous plane could carry four people, meaning if there was an incident in Paulatuk requiring the emergency response team, the plane would have to make three trips to bring the desired 12 people. The new plane can carry eight. It also has space to carry a full pallet in its cargo storage.
“It’s doing even better than what we thought,” said special constable Chris Williams, an RCMP pilot from Ottawa who is training the NWT pilots on the new plane.
“Overall, it’s just a way better aircraft for what we use it up here for.”
NWT RCMP will fly both the PC-24 and leased PC-12 planes until spring 2027, then the PC-12 jet will return to Ottawa.
