piaggio aircraft

Piaggio Aircraft - The Piaggio P.180 Avanti is an Italian twin-engine pusher turboprop business jet, built by Piaggio Aero. The seven to nine pressurized cabin passenger aircraft made its first flight on September 23, 1986. Since 1986, 246 examples have been built.

In the mid-1980s, both Beechcraft and Piaggio Aero were working on similar twin-engine turboprop business jet designs that were more fuel efficient and faster than the popular King Air turboprops. The Beechcraft Starship was a pure canard aircraft. The design of the Piaggio-P.180 is very similar to a canard, but strictly speaking it does not fall into this category due to the T-tail used.

Piaggio Aircraft

Piaggio had been working with the American company Learjet on the P.180 since 1983, but Learjet's financial problems ended this in early 1986. Piaggio decided to continue development on its own and in September 1986 a prototype made its first flight. Certification in Italy was completed in March 1990, the US followed in October of the same year.

Piaggio P180 Avanti Model Airplane

The P.180 Avanti has proven to work well in practice. The aircraft was powered by the same Pratt & Whitney turboprop engines as a King Air 200, but flew 190 km/h faster.

Piaggio has also designed an unmanned military version (UAV) of the P.180, the "P.1HH Hammerhead", capable of carrying 500 kg of armament and/or reconnaissance systems. After 100 hours of test flight, the P.1HH prototype crashed off the coast of Sicily in 2016. This accident resulted in a one-year delay in the UAV project.

In November 2018, the Piaggio company ran into trouble due to weak sales results. The Italian government decided in 2019 to keep the company afloat with financial support and military guarantee orders.

The Piaggio P.180 Avanti project is a light business aircraft with a twin pusher turboprop configuration. The aircraft has a T-tail plus a horizontal wing at the front of the fuselage. The P.180 Avanti therefore has three horizontal wings (two small plus one large) that provide lift. According to the designer, the shape of the hull also contributes 20% to the required lift. The aircraft is constructed of metal, but many fairings are made of composite materials.

Aero Club Builds Membership Plan With Avanti Based Fleet

The Avanti has less drag than comparable turboprop aircraft, but in terms of performance it is actually better than turbofan aircraft such as the Beechcraft Premier I. By this standard, the Avanti is more economical, but only at speeds below 600 km/h.

A number of airport residents complained about noise from the Piaggio P.180, although measurements showed that noise levels during takeoff were well within FAA standards. However, the loud "squealing" sound of the P.180 is experienced as particularly unpleasant. This noise is caused by the turbulent flow of hot exhaust gases coming into contact with the rotating propellers.

Variant with higher payload. New Hartzell propellers and improved flaps. Increased flight range by 3,280 km. Maximum speed: 752 km/h.

This article or an earlier version is a (partial) translation of the English Wikipedia article Piaggio_P.180_Avanti, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license. See the change history there.

Aerovanti Launches With Piaggio P.180 Avanti And $1,995 Hourly Rate

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