Narrative:

The first officer (first officer) was flying this leg. It was the first leg of our day and the first time we had ever flown together. I had done an first officer swap that day. During climbout; right after we finished the climb checklist I saw the itt (inlet turbine temperature) was 826 and I told him to watch the itt. I immediately looked at the outside temp and knowing it was cool for [this region; knew something was wrong]. The climb power needed to be 31 psi in order for the itt to be 780. It was right then I asked him if we was sure if he removed all the plugs from the plane and more importantly the engine inlet plug. He said he was pretty sure he did but I had a bad feeling about it. I hopped out back and checked the bag that holds all the aircraft covers and plugs and didn't see it anywhere. I searched all around the baggage compartment with no luck. I came back up and asked him again if he remembered taking it out and he said he was pretty sure he did. I knew something wasn't right so I told him we needed to go back to ZZZ. I advised ATC that we needed to 'go back to ZZZ and we need to do it pretty quickly.' they asked why and I said 'we are having a temperature issue.' we then got an immediate vector back for runway xx. We landed with no issues. No limitations were exceeded in flight. We taxied over to [the] FBO and shut down. I got out of the plane and went to check the engine inlet and sure enough; the plug was in there. It was sideways with no damage. I called [maintenance] and spoke with them telling them what happened and that ultimately it came down to me missing it on my final walkaround. [Maintenance] said if I could take it out to do that and he'd call me back. When the lip cooled down I took the plug out and inspected it for damage and didn't see any. [Maintenance] called me back and said that if I was comfortable I could continue on with my day and suggested I do a run-up. We continued on with our day. Factors I think may have contributed to this event are:I missed the cover on my walkaround. In 6.5 years of flying I have been nervous about this happening to me and check for the removal of that very plug. In fact; the day before; my first officer on oe (operations experience) did this exact same thing (left the inlet plug in) and I only caught it on my final walkaround. That was the first time that had ever happened to me. I am dumbfounded by the odds of this happening two days in a row. I remember starting my walkaround and noting there were three sets of chocks to remove and I didn't want to forget anything. Lastly; there was another crew next to us on the ramp and as I was coming around the front of the plane I waved over and shouted a 'hi.' I think ultimately it was this distraction at that very moment that caused me to skip over the inspection of the inlet.the inexperience of my first officer. He did a total of three days of oe. One day; then had weeks and weeks off; did 2 more days with very long legs and then was signed off. When we started the day today he had 18 hours in the PC12. When I asked him he admitted to not using his checklist during or after preflight to confirm he checked everything. This lack of experience and lack of respect for the importance of two crew member operations didn't exactly set us or me up for success.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PC-12 Captain reported a high Inlet Turbine Temperature due to the First Officer forgetting to remove the inlet cover.

Narrative: The FO (First Officer) was flying this leg. It was the first leg of our day and the first time we had ever flown together. I had done an FO swap that day. During climbout; right after we finished the climb checklist I saw the ITT (Inlet Turbine Temperature) was 826 and I told him to watch the ITT. I immediately looked at the outside temp and knowing it was cool for [this region; knew something was wrong]. The climb power needed to be 31 PSI in order for the ITT to be 780. It was right then I asked him if we was sure if he removed all the plugs from the plane and more importantly the engine inlet plug. He said he was pretty sure he did but I had a bad feeling about it. I hopped out back and checked the bag that holds all the aircraft covers and plugs and didn't see it anywhere. I searched all around the baggage compartment with no luck. I came back up and asked him again if he remembered taking it out and he said he was pretty sure he did. I knew something wasn't right so I told him we needed to go back to ZZZ. I advised ATC that we needed to 'go back to ZZZ and we need to do it pretty quickly.' They asked why and I said 'we are having a temperature issue.' We then got an immediate vector back for RWY XX. We landed with no issues. No limitations were exceeded in flight. We taxied over to [the] FBO and shut down. I got out of the plane and went to check the engine inlet and sure enough; the plug was in there. It was sideways with no damage. I called [Maintenance] and spoke with them telling them what happened and that ultimately it came down to me missing it on my final walkaround. [Maintenance] said if I could take it out to do that and he'd call me back. When the lip cooled down I took the plug out and inspected it for damage and didn't see any. [Maintenance] called me back and said that if I was comfortable I could continue on with my day and suggested I do a run-up. We continued on with our day. Factors I think may have contributed to this event are:I missed the cover on my walkaround. In 6.5 years of flying I have been nervous about this happening to me and check for the removal of that very plug. In fact; the day before; my FO on OE (Operations Experience) did this exact same thing (left the inlet plug in) and I only caught it on my final walkaround. That was the first time that had ever happened to me. I am dumbfounded by the odds of this happening two days in a row. I remember starting my walkaround and noting there were three sets of chocks to remove and I didn't want to forget anything. Lastly; there was another crew next to us on the ramp and as I was coming around the front of the plane I waved over and shouted a 'hi.' I think ultimately it was this distraction at that very moment that caused me to skip over the inspection of the inlet.The inexperience of my FO. He did a total of three days of OE. One day; then had weeks and weeks off; did 2 more days with very long legs and then was signed off. When we started the day today he had 18 hours in the PC12. When I asked him he admitted to not using his checklist during or after preflight to confirm he checked everything. This lack of experience and lack of respect for the importance of two crew member operations didn't exactly set us or me up for success.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.