departed the aircraft. This story is already out of date, as of today, 10/25/12, the entire is fleet is grounded for the foreseeable future. Pete Bedell is a pilot for a major airline and co-owner of a Cessna 172M and Beechcraft Baron D55. Despite the fact that it took me a while to get a feel for the trim button theres a little activate button in the center of the trim hat the hand-flying was nothing short of delightful. Try using low-flow fixtures. The price of the latest Piaggio P180 Avanti EVO is US $ 7.7 Million. My friend, the Captain, requested the FO remain with the passengers, who continued their verbal tirade as the Captain DID complete a postflight, although abbreviated under duress. But with a main cabin height of 69 inches, its easy to move about. You can get a good 2003 model with the increased weights that make it an Avanti II for $5.3. Pilot Report: Piaggio Avanti Evo - Aviation International Piaggios home airfield is surrounded by terrain, and the approach is offset from the inbound course. They offered to find me a charter at MY EXPENSE, which just isn't right. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Content Policy. Both flights continued to their destinations without further incident. As an owner I would think twice about renewing my contract and go with a company who cares about its customers safety, including employees. I started looking at commercial flights, figuring SWA flies there and it would be inexpensive anyway. No nose was visible ahead, but down and to the right from my seat I could see the tip of the forward wing and the shapely winglet was at my four oclock. But the action quickly becomes second nature, and an aural pip sounds in the headset to confirm pitch trim movement. With the hammer down and in the low 30s, Avanti IIs can hit 400 KTAS on 800 pounds per hour. As far as the crew that experienced the elevator loss, now you will hear the rest of the story.. Due to low ceilings at the destination airport, the crew diverted to the alternate, SAN. Interestingly, the windscreen de-fog system is set up for single- The approach speeds are very fast by turboprop standards. WebThats why the Piaggio Aero P180 Avanti II is a green aircraft. The Nov. 16, 2011 engine failure and emergency landing at Flint, MI and veering off the runway and flipping on its back (all 4 occupants suffered minor injuries) shows pilot poor skills for sure and serious concern about engine maintenance. Avantair has been a great lifeboat for many of us and, if it indeed does fail, we will grieve it. I know from my perspective, it was going to be close as to whether I was going to use my minimum hours this year (even after being able to roll some to next year). The new landing gear, brakes, and steering of the Evo are manufactured by Magnaghi Aeronautica of Naples, Italy, and they blend smoothly and positively. WebFlightSafety offers the only formal pilot and maintenance training programs available for the Piaggio P.180 Avanti, the Avanti II and the Avanti EVO. 36 dated 11 April 2019 to the P.180 Avanti Pilot's Operating Handbook and AFM (Report 6591). Max cruise speed / 400 KTAS They have made a challenging job fun and did their best to service our Owners and fellow employees. With fully reversionary flat-screen displays with a host of safety utilities, including TCAS, TAWS, satellite weather and more, the avionics suite is top-notch, and Piaggio Aero has been working with Rockwell Collins since the introduction of the Avanti II to add upgrades as they became available. I love the Piaggio and Avantair has always been great to work with, but now I am concerned about my share and their financial situation. He sighted the runway at 50 ft above the missed approach point. I followed the start procedure with one eye as I did this and observed Villi checking the power lever at idle, switching on the fuel pump, and setting the start switch to start. At 13 percent Ng, he moved the condition lever to ground idle with the starter switch shut off at 40 percent Ng and the power lever to flight idle. While I flew, Villi checked the Airplane Flight Manual and the performance graphs corroborated these figures to within a couple of knots at ISA +5. Of course, with higher operating weights you wont be able to carry as much fuel or, hence, get as much range, though the truth is that most flights in a 400-knot airplane are less than 1,000 nm anyway, and with a thousand-mile range as the target, you can liberally load the P.180. In the process it doesnt hurt one bit that the Avanti II just so happens to be one of the sleekest and most beautiful airplanes ever built. I just read about the one that flipped, but understand, it is only this issue that has me looking at ntsb reports, it is not something most fractional owners do before every flight. The release I posted above came directly from Avantair media relations. Avantair and the Avanti have tremendous potential, if we make it. I kept on the controls through a number of heading changes much up into the midteens before switching on the autopilot. The twin turboprop Avanti EVO is the third-generation version of the Piaggios Avanti P.180, a model introduced in the 1990s that led to the creation of Piaggio Aero Industries. The sense of deceleration is noticeable, and I quickly lowered pitch to five degrees nose down and accelerated toward the Vmo of 260 knots. The cabin provides a comfortable and quiet ride for passengers. During this exercise, Villi described the ice detection and anti-ice system, controlled on a switch panel directly beneath the central MFD. "Piaggio gets confirmation of Avanti speed records". AINonline. Aviation International News. Archived from the original on 5 September 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2017. ^ Aboulafia, Richard. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information. They "couldnt" find a charter in time (by 2pm as I had to be back), so they put me on American Airlines. A lot of the airplane have recurring maintenance problems that just get put off until something really breaks and the airplane is grounded. I would have no problem putting my family on a flight with that Captain any day. The windshield is deep and sharply raked back, which along with the ventral delta fins, perhaps alludes to the shared Learjet origin from the 1980s. Todays airplane has the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite, with all the bells and whistles. Piaggio P.180 Avanti: Owner/operator: Avantair Inc: Registration: N146SL: MSN: Above FL200, the torque is allowed to reduce as ITT becomes the governing factor and we targeted approximately 800 deg C. The maximum continuous ITT is 820 degrees, but 785 degrees is recommended to produce rated horsepower in ISA conditions and improve engine life. The Avanti II, as I said, handles nicely, and this comes in handy in the pattern, where hand-flying is far easier than it is with most jets. Please note that not all records are available electronically. The use of alloys instead of composites was a purposeful choice for Piaggio Aero, which certified the airplane more than 20 years ago at a time when there were few successful composite models and sheet metal seemed to augur a shorter approval program than plastics did. The shape, youll see, is not simply for show, though ironically it shows very nicely. The difference between the two, they say, is that the forward wing, while a lifting surface, is not a controllable one. CLEARWATER, Fla. October 25, 2012 Avantair, Inc. (OTCBB: AAIR), today announced the company is continuing to stand down operations and engaging top aviation experts to help complete a thorough examination of its fleet of nearly 60 Piaggio Avanti aircraft, and a comprehensive review of records and supporting maintenance documentation. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2018-07-18/pilot-report-piaggio-avanti-evo, Copyright 2023 AIN Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. I managed the deceleration to approach speed with very small movements of the power levers and maintained final approach speed quite easily. With a top speed of 400 knots (Avanti II/Evo), these airplanes cruise as much as 100 knots faster than traditional turboprops. I know if they fold up its going to be a fiasco as technically we each own a piece of these airplanes so we have a bunch of partners that we don't even know. His record is pristine and out of Vegas, PS Albany has treated him so bad. Avantairs demise, parts scarcity, and maintenance headaches combine to make P180 ownership a challenge. At one point, Avantair had 57 P180s in its fleet. While it may be certified to fly with one pilot most P180s are crewed by two. Findings as to risk: As with many airfields in this part of the world, terrain is a complicating factor. For private owners, charter customers and fractional owners, the big cabin is a major selling point. The owners got into another Piaggio and flew again. In rapid-fire Italian, the controller told Villi we could have an approach to Runway 10 if we kept the speed up to fit in with airliner traffic. The airplane has been constantly improved over the past decade, with new interiors, higher max takeoff weight, higher Vmo and avionics upgrades galore. Think of the Avanti II as a jet with props and youll be close to the mark, though in many respects, its not an easy mental shift to make. P180 Avanti Lighting System. We owned a King Air 200 several years ago in partnership with another company which was great except the other company ran into trouble and couldn't pay their half. Furthermore, the required pilot aircraft walkaround or preflight check of the P180 at San Diego before departure to Nevada, could not have missed the absent elevator that had fallen off before arrival, if in fact the preflight had been accomplished at all. P180 Avanti Oxygen System. Villi took control from me to give me a rest. Avantair and the FAA may call it voluntary, but it's all semantics. Like the Starship, the Piaggio Avanti features a canard and rear-mounted engines. But the Avanti is made mostly of aluminum, not composites. It weighs thousands of pounds less than the Starship and is about 60 m.p.h. faster. ^ Martin, Ed (29 October 1989). I'm a fractional owner and the first I heard about this fleet grounding was 11pm last night when I got an email from owner services saying my flights for this morning at 9am and return tomorrow were cancelled. Thanks for point that out. Piaggios appearance at the Singapore Airshow in February lifted hopes somewhat that the design can survive. Using the intuitive FMS CDU, I programmed a route toward BERAB, the initial approach fix for the VOR approach to Runway 27 at Villanova. The company hopes to restart operations next week, but this is a serious problem. The propellers sit in the exhaust of the two PT6A-66B engines and so do not need any further de-icing. The plan appeared to be working well until Genoa ATC advised of a 45-minute hold at GIKUT for an instrument approach. The Shape of Fast Bleed air would have been nice, but by the time it had traveled the distance from the engines, its not clear that it would have been very hot anymore, and the bleed air used to heat the wing leading edges robs the turboprops of a great deal of power to begin with. Yes, the Captain, a mere mortal and an infallible being, DID miss the elevator on his post flight inspection. The pilots had secured an engine and were having orientation issues due to instrumentation failures. In ground idle and with power pulled back to idle, the airplane still has a tendency, like many turboprops, to get going too fast, so you need to use beta to keep things slowed down. While canard configurations like the Beechcraft Starship were gaining a lot of attention back then, the exotic Avanti begged to be even more different with its three-lifting-surface arrangement versus the canards tail-forward setup. The biggest problem I had was in remembering that I wasnt flying a jet and that mounted 30 feet in back of me, completely out of sight, were two turboprop engines. Space laundry washing throughout the week. Height / 13 ft 1 in It wasnt the only fast turboprop twin with a forward wing the Beech Starship was a contemporary, though that company stopped production of the composite cabin-class twin shortly after it started it, admitting later that the composite model was so time-intensive to build that it was simply unprofitable. Whatever the outcome, it was and is an honor and a blast to serve our Owners and work with my fellow VNR employees. Piaggio succeeded in its design goals to create a large cabin as well as a very fast design that puts it squarely in the light jet arena. Viva VNR! We are grateful for their understanding and patience as we work through this important process. This is another advantage of a turboprop. They are understandably bitter and we don't blame them.). Initially I erred on the side of caution and flew a few knots above approach speed, but as the runway is 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet), and this was my first full approach, Villi encouraged me to be accurate. P180 Avanti Ice and Rain Protection. I can't speak for the maintenance personnel involved in this, but I know that the pilot and co-pilot were both fired for failure to perform a pre-flight check. Criminal Records include Lansing arrests, arrest warrants, search warrants, Perhaps its greatest asset is being the worlds most eco-friendly, twin-turbine business aircraft. ^ Goyer, Robert (19 April 2012). "Piaggio P.180 Avanti II". Flying. Archived from the original on 9 June 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017. Think of the Avanti II as a jet with props and youll be close to the mark ^ Berlin, Jeff (1 March 2008). With the stick fully back, we reached 100 knots indicated but once again, as I released the back pressure and smoothly applied power, we recovered. These inspections and other actions are still underway. Grant handled the radio tuning. That all changed in 2003 when Avantair put the design thoroughly on the map in the United States as a successful fractional-ownership provider of Avantis. He placed his left foot at the base of the carpet behind the central instrument panel and stepped forward with his right, placing his foot inboard of the control column and gracefully followed with his left. Ive removed Kyles email address above since this is not a pilot placement service, and Ive also deleted a charter companys post trolling for business from Avantair customers. Then there are the issues with inflight engine shutdowns that happen way early of the engine manufacture time frames. The caution terrain aural warning was sounding continuously as Villi maneuvered us to the left in visual conditions to fly around the hill, inconveniently placed on the extended certerline of the runway. 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