The smoke generators of the new Pilatus PC-21 aircraft of the Patrulla Águila

In February we learned that we would soon see the farewell of the CASA C-101 Aviojet as the aircraft of the Patrulla Águila of the Spanish Air Force.

Patrulla Águila, the second aerobatic team to replace jets with turboprops
The Patrulla Águila explains the smoke system of its C-101 to draw the Spanish Flag

The Spanish aerobatic patrol will make its last displays with the C-101 on June 14 and 15, 2025, on the occasion of the Aire 25 airshow that will take place at the San Javier Air Base, in Murcia, to celebrate The 40th anniversary of the Patrulla Águila. The Spanish aerobatic team will begin its transition to the Pilatus PC-21 this summer, the turboprop aircraft that has replaced the C-101 in training operations at the General Air Academy (AGA) in San Javier.

The Air Force officially presented the Aire 25 festival today, stating the following: "One of the most anticipated moments will undoubtedly be the farewell to the CASA C-101, as the veteran aircraft will officially hand over the baton to the Pilatus PC-21, the Swiss turboprop that has now been incorporated into the training at the General Air and Space Academy. This change marks a new milestone in the path of modernization, efficiency, and adaptation to current times that the Air and Space Force is following, always at the service of Spain."

For this presentation, a flight of more than 50 journalists and sponsors was chartered aboard an Airbus A400M Atlas from Wing 31, the T.23-08, which flew from Torrejón Air Base to the AGA.

This flight was accompanied by the C-101s of the Patrulla Águila, giving the opportunity to film these aircraft from the rear ramp of the A400M.

One of the Spanish aerobatic team's aircraft, the E.25-40, had its tail decorated with an illustration alluding to the 40th anniversary of the Patrulla Águila. You can see it enlarged in the following image.

On the other hand, this Monday night the Air Force published a video in which we see a C-101 of the Patrulla Águila, the E.25-08 "Águila 1", flying next to a PC-21 of the AGA, the E.27-03 (792-03).

¡Aviadores! 🚨

Mañana va a ser un gran día... 🙂

Esto es solo un adelanto de lo que se viene. 😏 pic.twitter.com/aFr7vp1zPi

— Ejército del Aire y del Espacio (@EjercitoAire) March 31, 2025

This video answers one of the questions raised by the announcement of the transition to the new aircraft: Being a turboprop aircraft, the PC-21 cannot generate smoke using a jet engine like the C-101s do.

As we can see in this video, the solution was to attach two smoke generators to underwing mounts, so now each Eagle Patrol aircraft will generate two trails instead of one.

As we can see in the video, the model chosen for the Spanish PC-21s is the SCSG-5 smoke generator from Sanders Smoke Technologies, a California-based company that has been manufacturing smoke generators for aerobatic aircraft since 1973. The SCSG-5 is the smoke generator that Pilatus shows in its PILMO (Pilatus Maintenance Organization) Capability List.

According to the manufacturer's specifications (see PDF), the SCSG-5 is a 2-meter long by 254 mm wide aluminum nacelle. The smoke generator is fueled by a tank of 7.57 liters of 100 octane aviation gasoline and 37.85 liters of smoke oil, capable of operating for approximately 10 minutes.

The SCSG-5 can be ignited at a maximum altitude of 15,000 feet (4,572 meters) and can operate during operation up to an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,144 meters). It can operate at a minimum speed of 129 km/h (80 mph) and a maximum of Mach 0.8 (600 mph). The manufacturer notes that the SCSG-5 is compatible with Milliken aviation colorants, used by various aerobatic patrols, so it is possible that we will continue to see the Patrulla Águila drawing the colors of the Spanish Flag, but this time with their PC-21s.

---

Photos: Patrulla Águila / Ejército del Aire.