Opinion ID: 3045474
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Manufacture and Distribution of PC-12s

Text: Pilatus is a Swiss company based in Stans, Switzerland, where it has designed and manufactured single-engine aircraft since 1939. Pilatus makes planes for both the general aviation and military training aircraft markets. The PC-12 is a singleengine turboprop aircraft designed for the civilian, general 2 The six plaintiffs each filed a separate action against the same defendants, but the District Court consolidated the cases. As a matter of convenience, we refer to the actions as a single case. 5 aviation market. The majority of Pilatus’s PC-12s ultimately are sold in the United States. In fact, Pilatus’s Annual Report 2006 (“Annual Report”) describes the United States as “unrivalled” among purchasers of PC-12s, having taken delivery of nearly two-thirds of the 670 PC-12s that Pilatus had built to date. App. at 103. Pilatus makes all sales of the PC-12 in the United States through its Colorado-based United States subsidiary, Pilatus Business Aircraft, Ltd. (“PilBAL”), which is responsible for all PC-12 sales in North and South America. PilBAL buys the planes from Pilatus, then sells them to contracted independent dealers, which, in turn, market and sell the PC-12s to retail customers in their respective geographic areas. Pilatus is not involved directly in the United States in the sale of its planes, as PilBAL and its independent dealers are responsible for the advertising and marketing of the PC-12s in this country. Moreover, Pilatus does not perform any maintenance in the United States on the planes it has manufactured. Pilatus asserts that it generally is not aware of when and where new PC-12s are sold to retail buyers after PilBAL purchases the planes, and that it generally is not aware of any subsequent resales of its planes.3 3 Pilatus’s own statements, however, belie its attempts to appear entirely disconnected from end-customers. In its Annual Report, Pilatus writes: Pilatus Aircraft in Stans is also a home base . . . for all our PC-12 customers worldwide. Because they know that whatever happens, they can expect support from Stans around the clock. This 6 Similarly, PilBAL claims that it generally is not aware of when and where the independent dealers ultimately sell the planes in their multi-state territories. To obtain Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) certification allowing PC-12 planes to be registered and flown in the United States, Pilatus equips its PC-12s with a stickpusher system intended to prevent the planes from stalling and entering a spin, which would create a significant risk of crashing. The turboprop aircraft at issue in this case, Pilatus PC-12 S/N 299, included such a system. Appellants allege that the subject aircraft crashed because of the failure of its stickpusher system and/or other components, as well as systems manufactured by other defendants not involved in this appeal. In 1999, Pilatus manufactured the aircraft involved in the Pennsylvania crash at its Stans, Switzerland, facilities. Thereafter Pilatus sold the aircraft to a French buyer. Its owner then resold the plane to a Swiss company (not Pilatus), which resold it to a Massachusetts company. The Massachusetts company brought the plane to the United States in the spring of 2003 and sold it to J2W Aviation, LLC, a Rhode Island always has been and will continue to be our philosophy. App. at 92. Confirming that it does not sever all ties to its planes when they leave the factory, Pilatus also states on its website that “[o]ur customer support is among the best in aviation and we are proud to offer this service around the globe over the lifecycle of a product.” Id. at 80. 7 company which based the aircraft in Rhode Island. Pilatus was not involved in any of the aircraft’s resales, and its only contact with the plane after its original sale was some maintenance of it in Switzerland at the request of its then owners. Pilatus, however, had no contact with the aircraft after it left Europe.