The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) has decommissioned its Pilatus PC-9M Basic Trainer Aircraft from service after 32 years of service.

The Commander of the RTAF, Air Chief Marshal Phanpakdee Pattanakul, presided over the decommissioning ceremony of the PC-9, which entered RTAF service in 1991. 

The trainer type which was known as Mustang in the RTAF, was decommissioned this February at the Kamphaeng Saen Air Base in Nakhon Pathom province, where the RTAF’s Flying Training School is based. 

The RTAF had originally acquired 26 PC-9s, out of which at least five are thought to have been lost in accidents, with some airframers upgraded to PC-9M standard. 

The RTAF has fully converted to the Beechcraft T-6 TH (T-6C Texan II), which was formally commissioned into service in August 2023. Twelve aircraft were ordered as part of a US$162 million contract inked with Beechcraft (a Textron Aviation company) in October 2020.