Idaho-based Reach Aviation has unveiled the Reach Aviation AC-6, a utility turboprop with eight to nine seats and a target price of $2.25 million, intended for private owners, missionary groups and small commercial operators. The company was established in 2017. The story was first reported by AeroTime through its own journalism.
The company is led by Founder and Board Director Tom Hamilton, whose name carries considerable weight in backcountry aviation circles, and CEO Samuel Spear, a mechanical engineer with experience at JAARS and the Mission Aviation Training Academy.
The Man Behind the Aircraft
What lends the AC-6 immediate credibility is the background of its designer, Hamilton. The 10-seat Kodiak was the centrepiece of Quest Aircraft, which Hamilton established in Sandpoint, Idaho, in 1999; that aircraft gained FAA certification in 2007 and is today manufactured by Daher. Before Quest, Hamilton was behind Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft, the company that produced the Glasair and GlaStar kitplanes, as well as composite-float maker Aerocet.
That background in utility aircraft built for demanding environments is directly relevant to the AC-6. The market Hamilton is returning to, remote and rough-strip operations for operators who need reliability and field maintainability above almost everything else, is the same one the Kodiak was designed to serve. You can explore more about the manufacturers shaping this segment using our Manufacturer Search.
What the Reach Aviation AC-6 Is Built to Do
Operational versatility sits at the heart of the AC-6's cabin design, which accommodates eight to nine passengers. Behind the flight crew, the aircraft offers eight feet of usable interior space that can be reconfigured to suit passenger transport, cargo duties or medical evacuation missions as circumstances demand.
Field serviceability and ease of access have clearly shaped the design from an early stage. Rather than a conventional stressed skin, the fuselage combines a steel-tube frame with removable composite panels, giving ground crews straightforward access to fuel lines, flight controls and other systems without the need for specialist tools. Quick removal of the windshield has also been incorporated as a feature, opening up access to the area behind the instrument panel and making the aircraft practical for operators based far from professional maintenance facilities.
For an aircraft of its size, the AC-6 offers considerable cargo flexibility. Standard equipment includes a 42-inch cargo door, and customers may specify an additional door on the opposite side together with an external cargo pod. Reflecting the water-based and amphibious operations that many prospective customers regularly undertake, float attachment points are incorporated into every airframe as a matter of course.
Two Engine Options, One Fuel Type
The first certified variant of the AC-6 is planned to be powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34 turboprop, an engine with an extensive and well-regarded service history across utility and commuter aviation. A further variant is under consideration, which would draw on a new 600-to-650-horsepower 12-cylinder diesel being developed by Ascent Engine Technologies.
According to Reach, the AC-6 is the aircraft Ascent has nominated as the launch platform for its diesel engine, a fact that gives the programme an importance extending well beyond Reach Aviation itself, provided the engine progresses to certification. Jet-A fuel compatibility is shared by both variants, which eases logistics considerably for operators in regions where aviation gasoline is scarce or prohibitively costly.
The diesel option remains the less certain of the two paths, given that the Ascent engine is itself a new product. The PT6A-34 route gives the programme a more straightforward route to certification, at least on the propulsion side.
Price, Progress and Investment
Reach is targeting $2.25 million for the turboprop version of the AC-6. For the intended customer base, that positions the aircraft as a serious proposition: the Kodiak, the most obvious point of comparison given Hamilton's involvement, now commands considerably more than that in current production form.
The programme still has a considerable distance to travel before it reaches the market, however. Reach Aviation has yet to publish any certification timeline or schedule for customer deliveries, and the AC-6 remains firmly in development. The company is currently looking for investment partners to help move the programme forward, indicating that it is at an early stage of funding rather than on the threshold of a maiden flight.
That combination of a credible designer, a clear target market and an unresolved funding picture is not unusual for a programme of this type. The Kodiak itself took years from concept to certification. What Hamilton demonstrated with that aircraft is that a small team focused on a specific operational need can reach the market successfully, even if the timeline stretches.
The Bottom Line
The Reach Aviation AC-6 is a well-conceived proposal from a developer with a genuine pedigree in exactly this category of aircraft. The modular design, field-serviceable airframe and dual-engine strategy all reflect the real-world demands of the missionary and remote-operations market Hamilton has built a career around.
The absence of a certification timeline means the AC-6 is a programme to watch rather than one to book. The investment search is the near-term milestone. If Reach secures the funding it needs, the combination of Hamilton's experience and a $2.25 million target price could make the AC-6 a meaningful competitor in a segment that has seen very little new development since the Kodiak itself arrived.
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