Piaggio Avanti II to replace my Mustang...

380 KTAS is pretty phenomenal for a turbo-prop. Looks like a little airliner inside. Can you stand up in the cabin?

 

I love the Avanti just wish it had had consistent funding over the years to fully evolve the aircraft. In its early days it had LearJet/Integrated Resources as the partner (where it sprouted the rectangular cabin windows). Too bad Integrated Resources had its own financial problems that led to the sale of Learjet to Bombardier. Then Piaggio had to finish the project on their own which stretched them too thin. A bankruptcy that led to having Piero Ferrari part of the rescue package with Mubadalah money. The collapse of Avantair was the next big big blow. Hopefully the next owner will bring the proper funding to allow the aircraft to reach its full potential with proper product support and upgrades.

I had an involvement with the aircraft during its original development. Met with the chief engineer that was designing it. That was back at a time when they were debating the cross section between a Falcon 10 or Falcon 20 (ultimate was to use the 20) and pre-the LearJet partnership.

Piaggio's intent back when was to target the Citations by matching/beating its block time performance up to about 1,500 nm. but with far far superior fuel burns. With its interior size it seriously outclasses all the light jets.

Have you checked into what Evo upgrades are able to be incorporated?

I know the engineering group that did the original interiors. Happy to connect you if there are interior changes you need coverage for.

 

Mark- Works for me. I am 5' 7".

 

I know someone who had one for a while. They loved it at first, then I noticed it was for sale a few years later... not really sure what the deal was. They certainly raved about it early on.

I think they are a cool airplane-- it will be good to see what you think after some time with it.

 

I was wondering about that new avatar..... couldn’t quite ID it.....
Congratulations! I recall pix of Piero having one with the PH on the tail.....

 

There is one with a prancing horse on it in fort Wayne. It may or not be based there... But when I go to Auburn on labor day I usually see a Pilatus which I think was silver with a prancing horse on the tail.

Congrats on the plane! I absolutely love those. I have never had a chance to fly in one but on paper it seems to an idiot like me to be an awesome plane for the money. Like a no brainier for the money.

Congrats!

 

Piaggio was the official aircraft for the Scuderia for a while. Of course that was during the time that Piero was part of Piaggio. It was red with the prancing horse on the tail. Current sponsor of the team is Vista Jet which runs a fleet of Bombardier jets.

 

Shortly after your aircraft Piaggio switched to a different interior design with a shell manufactured and supplied by Nordam. The aircraft still continued to be outfitted at JetWorks in Denton, TX (became Greenpoint then was shut down a couple years ago).

I do have a contact for an ex-Piaggio field person, Jeff Shope, that might be able to help you. The engineering group is AeroNautique - DFW area.

 

I figured this was just an enthusiast who owned the plane. I'm sure I took a picture of it. Let me check

 

I'm the exception to the rule-- 9 years so far with my 300 knot, 400pph Commander 980...

 

Good for you to have a sense of reality but not a part of the mentality on display at Teterboro or a season weekend at Palm Beach where they want to cast the biggest shadow on the ramp.

 

I used to live in Palm Beach County and flew (commercial) out of PBI a lot. At times, it's amazing how many aircraft were parked at the various FBOs along the southern edge of the airport; even big jets like 727s and (before he became Prez) Trump's 757. When the PGA tour is in town it gets even crazier. It's not a busy airport for commercial flights, but once, in the only airliner taxiing out for takeoff, we had to wait for SIX business jets to either take off or land!

 

Going back closer to the MU-2 idea?

 

For a while I was doing various projects at Jet Aviation on the southeast corner of PBI. On "in season" holiday weekends they actually were running out of room to park the aircraft. The big boys (Gulfstream, Falcon 900s and Challengers) got the prime front spots and it descended from there. King Airs and such lesser aircraft might get stashed behind the maintenance hangar.

Back then Trump had his 727-100 (e-Diamond Shamrock). We could tell he was coming in hours before he ever got there. Normal was the 2 stretch limos would get there the earliest - maybe 3 hours before the arrival. Then a station wagon for the baggage and then at the end his Rolls Royce Cloud III. As the aircraft spun on the ramp in preparation to drop the ventral stairs the cars would pull up that you could have done a string lining up the front bumpers. Afterwards the 727 would get taxied to its parking spot. At that time there was also a based 727-200 of Nelson Peltz' with Jet too.

 

Hey! I have a 52' wingspan!

 

Very nice! When I flew corporate we had a Citation II, a King Air F90, and a Beech Starship. I was always impressed about the Starship being not that much slower than the Citation. Rode better through the bumps too.

Looking good!

cheers
Dave

 

I don't think it was as much about "everyone wanted one" as it was that AvantAir was taking a high percentage of the production line. Unfortunately AvantAir's business model was seriously flawed and they were doing financial and maintenance shenanigans to last as long as they did. They made a big black eye for the Avanti and put a sudden major hole in Piaggio's revenues when they failed.

 

I believe that when Trump arrives with Air Force One, it now parks on a pad in the northwest corner of the airport, near the end of runway 14 and isolated from all the other airport activity.

 

I always liked those but the airport I fly out of KSMO banned them along with a lot of other airports due to the noise the props make, other than that most wouldn't care about it anyway, it's one heck of a plane for the money.

What's TBO on them? 3,500hrs?