It seems like almost every day I am reminded of what a great group of people the Pilatus owners are. They never seem to miss an opportunity to lend a helping hand. It’s great to see, especially because most of these people are confronted everyday with requests for their time, money, and resources in one capacity or another. I was reminded of this magnanimous topic recently when a customer of ours offered the use of his aircraft to another Pilatus owner who had an issue. In addition, I’ve been blessed over the years by customers who said, “Sure Don, you can use my airplane to do a demo flight with a potential customer…” And, yet once again I was reminded just a week ago when I had planned a surprise flight in my little airplane for a friends 50^thbirthday—when I mentioned this to a customer of mine, he said, “Why don’t you fly him in the Pilatus?” Wow, how nice is that? As a result, and with a little sappy emotional thought, it dawned on me…There’s a common thread here: SWISS IT FORWARD
I haven’t reinvented the wheel with the idea. This is basically setting up a ‘good dude’s club’ (GDC) for Pilatus owners. I think a lot of our customers will gladly participate in this ‘paying’ or ‘Swiss it’ forward program (because most all of them already do).

The Swiss it Forward program has three very simple principles:

Allow the use of your Pilatus to introduce someone to general aviation or to the Pilatus brand

Use your Pilatus for a charitable flight (Angel Flight, Make a Wish, Veterans Airlift, your local church, or transferring baby mountain lions to a nature preserve, etc)

Help a fellow Pilatus owner in a pinch, emergency, or to assist with any of the above

To date, owners involved in “Swiss it Forward” have used their aircraft 1-2 times a year on average for any of the three principles mentioned above. In return, most of these owners have been the beneficiary of the Swiss it Forward program. It’s a crazy thing, very often Pilatus owners hatch other Pilatus owners. Ever wonder why there’s three Pilatus aircraft based at the same small town airport somewhere? Simple. Good people create and spawn more good people around them. Good aircraft (Pilatus) create and spawn more good aircraft (Pilatus). It’s a fire that has spread across the world since 1994! I should also mention that without the support of the Pilatus Factory, the Dealer Network, the Pilots, and a handful of other good stewards of the brand, the flame would burn out.

Look, we all know that general aviation is slowly dying. We also know there’s not enough good in the world today. So maybe if we get enough people doing just a couple small good deeds a year, we can make a difference. From where I sit, just say the word. JetSwiss is happy and proud to be a part of Swiss it Forward in any way we can, and our hats are off to those Pilatus owners out there who already Swiss it Forward!

Fly safe. Fly Swiss.

Don