Our fleet
Falco XL
Farmers Air operates the most modern fleet of aircraft in the country, and has over 100,000 hours of type experience, allowing us to utilise our aircraft to their maximum ability.
In order to remain innovative and future-proofed, in 2011 we undertook an evaluation and major modification project on our former Pacific Aerospace 750XL aircraft and, from here, the Falco XL was born.
The Pacific Aerospace 750XL has the venerable DNA of the Fletcher and Cresco but given those aircraft are no longer in production, we needed a new solution.
Our logo and the name of our aircraft, Falco XL, was derived from the NZ native bird, the Falcon (Karearea) because the new and improved aircraft emulates similar features;
NZ made (native)
Fast
Powerful
Ability to climb
Ability to carry/payload
Endurance
The modification process consisted of:
Removing all unnecessary weight (reduced gross empty weight by 100kg over the standard factory aircraft).
Installing a lightweight high strength carbon fibre hopper.
Incorporating a barrier air filter into the streamlined cowl.
Increasing rudder authority for improved cross wind performance.
Reducing elevator stick force to reduce pilot fatigue.
Designing a hydraulic gate box, also to reduce pilot fatigue.
Improving pilot comfort with more leg room, quieter cockpit, improved sun protection, and improved ergonomics.
The newly born Falco XL brought lots of technological advancements and innovations, including more lift. By reducing aircraft weight by 100kg, over 100 take offs in a day it can effectively spread an extra 10 tonne for no additional time or cost. This means less fuel burn which obviously translates to less carbon emissions.
The Falco XL specs
Climbs 800ft/minute
3000L hopper capacity with large hopper opening.
2200kg payload
135 knot cruise speed
4 hours fuel endurance
TracMap GPS equipped
TracPlus – this is used for fleet flight following for exact aircraft location in case of emergency
New Zealand made, Gisborne designed
Flightcell DZMx – by using this coupled with TracPlus, we have automatic recording and real-time reporting of key events, such as load weight per take off
Low maintenance
Full factory airframe support – parts come from Hamilton, rather than America or Europe
Powered by Pratt & Whitney PT6-34AG turbine engine producing 750shp – this is considered the world’s safest and most reliable engine
Short field take-off and landing performance
Less airstrip damage because of oleo undercarriage