Reach Aviation, founded by aircraft designer Tom Hamilton, is developing the AC-6, a high-wing utility aircraft for backcountry, missionary, small commercial and private operations. The eight- or nine-seat aircraft is planned with a 3,000-pound useful load, while the turbine-powered AC-6T is targeting a price of approximately $2.25 million. Reach is seeking investment partners to advance the programme, which remains in development.
Hamilton previously founded Quest Aircraft, developer of the Kodiak, and was involved with the Glasair and GlaStar aircraft. Reach, founded in Priest River, Idaho, in 2017, is led by chief executive Samuel Spear, with Hamilton serving as founder and board director.
The initial AC-6T is planned to use a 750-shaft-horsepower Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34 turboprop. Reach projects a cruise speed of about 170 knots and a range of 800 nautical miles with a 45-minute reserve. A proposed AC-6D would use a 600-650-shaft-horsepower, 12-cylinder diesel engine under development by Ascent Engine Technologies. The diesel version is projected to cruise at approximately 165 knots and cover about 1,450 nautical miles. Both variants are intended to use Jet-A fuel.
The aircraft is positioned between ageing utility types such as the de Havilland Beaver and Cessna 206 and more expensive modern turboprops including the Kodiak and Cessna Caravan. Its steel-tube fuselage has removable composite panels intended to simplify access to fuel lines, flight controls and other systems during field maintenance. The cabin offers about eight feet of usable space behind the pilots and can be configured for passengers, cargo or medical transport. A 42-inch cargo door, optional second cargo door, external cargo pod and float-attachment points are also planned.
The AC-6 has not yet entered production or certification. Reach has not published a first-flight date, certification schedule or customer-delivery timetable, and the stated price and performance figures remain development targets.