These turbo prop trainers were originaly made by Pilatus. Embrear (sp) builds them under licence. Now Beech or Raytheon if your prefer, builds something very similar, now called the Texan II. Your picture is of the Embraere. You can tellthe difference by the wing. The Raytheon's wing has no dihedral in the center section and then the wings bends upwards just outside of the main gear. The Palatis and the Embreare both have dihedral in the center section. You can generally tell at a glance by looking at the air force markings. South American countries-Embrears, Europeans=Pilatis, and here in the states, Raytheon TexanII's. My freind has the big Tacano ( thats the Embreare), very nice, and it is made by Prince America. Its a glass fuselage, foam wing sheeted. Flys good! Turns heads. His is all glassed, painted and automotive clear coated! Spectacular!! The flaps are must. They also make a forty size ARF and it flys great!
We actually get to go and ride in the Texans at Randolf AFB where I work. I haven't been yet, but some of my freinds have already gone. Its cool. Well, not really, they have had air conditioning problems. The idea of these planes is , of course, for instruction. However, they are fly by wire and all of the propeller characteristics are compensated by the computor. Why teach your student prop behaviors when, hopefully, they will soon be moving on to jets. The Pratt and Whitney PT-6 is a great engine and gets much better mileage than a jet. They are cheaper to operate than the aged, not to mention loud, T37's. I think that is about all I can tell you. barn