Even though there were already many different high performance turboprop training aircraft, Turkey decided to design and build its own. Taking the Korean KAI KT-1 Woong Bee as starting point Turkish Aerospace Industries made the Hürkuş.

The looks of the Hürkuş is similar to other aircraft in this category. It has straight low wings mated to a slender fuselage with a cockpit in which the instructor pilot sits higher than the student pilot. The canopy has two parts, separated by a bow frame behind the front seat, but open sideways in a single piece. The fuselage appears to be shorther than its competitors, giving it a stubby look. At the rear is a vetical stabiliser with a large dorsal fin, that looks like that of the PC-7 MkII/PC-9M. Below the tail is a ventral fin. The wings have a continuous dihedral. The PT6 engine up front powers a five blade propeller.

The different versions of the PC-9 can be recognised by:

• the presence of winglets
• the presence of a small dent in the dorsal fin
• the presence of a head-up display (HUD)
• the presence of storage points under the wings

TAI first made a civil version that was eventually certificated under civil rules. In appearance it lacks the small winglets and dent in the dorsal fin that the other two variants have.

This is the basic training version for the Turkish air force. Compared to the A model it has small, triangular winglets and a head-up display, that may be visible from the outside. Finally, it has a small dent in the dorsal fin

Like many competitors the Hürkuş has a light attack version, called the Hürkuş-C. It is essentially a Hürkuş-B with storage points for weapons under the wings. A full view photo is at the top of the page.