The EVO is the latest variant, which hosts a variety of new It is by far the worst disorganized fractional and needs a miracle of improvement. Thanks guys, As we tracked toward this point, Lorenzo handed me back control for the last approach. Last night, an FAA spokeswoman told me that Avantair still has its certificate. Yes, the Captain, a mere mortal and an infallible being, DID miss the elevator on his post flight inspection. That said, they never even sent me a quote, which I got elsewhere for a king air (and a Lear 55, I am taking the King Air). At FL380, you can expect 380 KTAS on 600 pounds per hour in an Avanti II. Interestingly, the windscreen de-fog system is set up for single- 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 sharp sweepback of the horizontal stabilizer ensures the elevators cannot be aerodynamically blanked by the main wing during a stall and thus remain effective throughout, and the main wing, with its high aspect ratio, is positioned behind the rear pressure bulkhead so that the spar does not pass through the passenger cabin, giving an uninterrupted length of 14.93 ft. General Data Sheet No. If range is the mission, getting the Avanti up to FL410 and cruising about 300 KTAS will yield a near-1,500 nautical mile range while still cruising as fast as the competition. The problem with the aft mounting is that the Avanti II has a very distinct exterior noise signature that is problematic while by all accounts the Avanti II is no noisier than other PT6-powered twins. Slightly heavy control forces in roll assisted me in flying this accurately. We rotated at 105 knots, which is pretty darned fast for a turboprop, using about half of the available 7,000 feet at KDTO. Yes. The owners got into another Piaggio and flew again. Villi took control from me to give me a rest. Viva VNR! Criminal Records include Lansing arrests, arrest warrants, search warrants, 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. The anhedral of the forward wing ensures there is no aerodynamic interference with the engine intakes and assists in stall handling. I am a fractional owner and the first I heard about this grounding was at 11pm last night when they sent me an email saying my flight for this morning was cancelled. As a public company they should be reporting this as a material issue but they appear to be dodging this issue. 2023 Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Air Force looks toward automation with Reliable Robotics, Boeing, NASA to develop sustainable airliner. 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 contract includes ten strict orders with options for 40 more. Yes, the Captain was terminated and we lost a good pilot. One smart thing I did do was I bought my share as a resale thru a vendor and paid a whole lot less then I would have if I bought straight from Avantair. I flew with him last month. They are completely disconnected from operations and maintenance and some in the operation would argue 'reality' should be added to that list. At FL350, the speed remained stable even with back pressure applied to maintain altitude, and the aircraft was easy to control. 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. We are grateful for their understanding and patience as we work through this important process. #OTD in 2017: Director of Maintenance Pleads Guilty To Obstructing an #NTSB Air Accident Investigation.https://t.co/P84ir4v0L5 #flightsafety #aviationsafety #aviationmaintenance pic.twitter.com/fA2oHltndZ, This information is added by users of ASN. Flying the Avanti II I selected terrain on my PFD to map the coastline. The front office of the Avanti Evo is the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21. Unfortunately, ill-fated business and maintenance practices eventually led to its bankruptcy in 2013. The second records shows a Piaggio P-180 Takeoff over 50-ft obstacle (sea level) / 3,262 ft The Aviation Safety Network is an exclusive service provided by: The twin-engine airplane departed 23 minutes behind schedule to pick up passengers at an intermediate airport. WebAs the factory-authorized training provider for Piaggio Aeros P.180 Avanti, Avanti II and Avanti EVO models, FlightSafety has created in-depth, type-specific programs to ensure that pilots and maintenance technicians of Piaggio Aero aircraft are equipped with the latest in safety training. I picked up the Avantair share as a resale through a vendor and paid a lot less then what it would have cost to buy it directly from the company, so at least I'm invested at a much lower number. Web Conserve water to avoid overloading the septic system. Villi led the way, providing an excellent demonstration. Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association Find it free on the store, Powerplants / (2) 850-shp Pratt & Whitney The plan appeared to be working well until Genoa ATC advised of a 45-minute hold at GIKUT for an instrument approach. 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). We were cleared through 8,000 feet very quickly and then up to FL350, set up using the flight guidance panel (FGP) on the glareshield and appearing in cyan in the top right hand side of the PFD. As the factory-authorized training provider for these aircraft, we have created in-depth, type-specific programs to ensure that pilots and technicians are equipped with the latest in safety training. Both crews included experienced professionals that could have easily been flying somewhere else. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2012-10-23/avantair-grounds-entire-fleet-safety-checks, It was ground the fleet for inspection or get shutdown my the FAA. All rights reserved. A lot of the airplane have recurring maintenance problems that just get put off until something really breaks and the airplane is grounded. I for one an very hopeful this whole episode will be behind us soon and that the company becomes gets stronger. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Content Policy. Everyone at the company expects to be unemployed very soon. After two major incidents/accidents in eight months are not all fractional owners, their employees and their families scared to hell for their own safety??? 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. WebPostaccident examination revealed both nose gear tires were deflated, and the right main tire had low air pressure. But as soon as Lorenzo released the back pressure and added power, the aircraft recovered and we were flying at 140 knots. Everyone at Owner Services couldn't have been nicer and the vast majority of the pilots were courteous and very professional, and I had zero complaints with them. The start-up sequence is pure PT6; its a completely pilot-controlled process. Thank you! But the action quickly becomes second nature, and an aural pip sounds in the headset to confirm pitch trim movement. Viewing this report requires Adobe Reader be installed on your device. On approach, however, the view is excellent. 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. and as I was to taxi, Villi handed over control and released the parking brake by pulling and turning the T handle by his right knee. With a top speed of 400 knots (Avanti II/Evo), these airplanes cruise as much as 100 knots faster than traditional turboprops. We took up a westerly heading for our return to Villanova. Please contact me at the e-mail address below if you are interested. I still recall going into one of the back hangers and see MX personal taking parts off of other P180s and putting them on other P180s. Its a hard transition for a pilot coming back to PT6s after having flown modern fadec turbofans from Williams and, yes, from Pratt & Whitney. As it wraps itself around the pointy nose of the P.180, the windshield stretches out for several feet in front of the pilots and wraps back around them tightly. Thanks for point that out. Avanti II appeared for the 2006 model year with higher thermodynamically rated engines. Copyright 2023 Flying Media. 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. Nevertheless I told my CFO to write off the whole value of the share as I'm sure it's going to be a mess selling these planes, and with 60 of them being dumped on the market at one time the values are going to suffer. 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. Don, sorry about your situation and lack of communication. The seat is raised or lowered with a lever outboard to provide a view that should just about look down onto the top of the glareshield. We know this is an extremely difficult period for our loyal employees and frustrating to our devoted owners, said Mr. Santo. Closing the power levers to idle sounds the gear warning horn, which is canceled using a button on the RH power lever. So I took them up on their offer to find me a charter flight. Any altimeter setting mismatch is shown by a yellow line beneath the altimeter setting on the PFD, and the pressurized cabin is set to climb at 300 fpm. 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. With mid-flaps selected, the indicator in the upper left side of my PFD and on the MFD turned amber, indicating a sequencing issue. In a jet this would have resulted in a go-around from 10 miles out. I am disappointed that there has been no communication out to the owners about this grounding and if you go to their website it doesn't mention anything and it looks like business as usual. The instrument is a dual-purpose gauge showing both torque and interstage turbine temperature (ITT), Tq shown by a green arrow and ITT by a line. The main wing of the airplane is very small (172.2 square feet, slightly less than a Cessna 210s) and very highly loaded. In any event, they are going to be fighting an uphill battle, as each day that passes is going to cause people to want to cancel there "membership.". This story is already out of date, as of today, 10/25/12, the entire is fleet is grounded for the foreseeable future. Arriving at the FBO there, the crew were shocked to find the owner and his colleague outside the FBO, on the ramp, unsupervised, waiting for the aircraft to arrive. During the takeoff roll, the left elevator departed the airplane and was found off the side of the runway 3 days later. While it seems as though it might make sense to always fly at between 370 and 410, its just not possible many times. Length / 47 ft 3 in Pilatus PC-12 or Piaggio P.180 Checklist? Grant handled the radio tuning. 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. Contact me at Atomicapril @ gmail.com. Considering the shape of the nose in front of you, this is handy, because the runway stays in easy view the entire time. To demonstrate the low-speed aileron control, Lorenzo then pulled back to the buffet and effortlessly rolled on 80 degrees of bank and then recovered to level flight. For private owners, charter customers and fractional owners, the big cabin is a major selling point. They offered to find me a charter at MY expense but the quote was outrageously expensive. The Avanti II gets its best range figures, up around 1,500 nm, at higher altitudes and lower fuel burns, and Grant told me that the range is real, commenting that he has never had to make more than one fuel stop going from any one point in the continental United States to another. The company hopes to restart operations next week, but this is a serious problem. There are ten wholly owned Avanti EVOs in operation worldwide, according to JETNET. FlightAware General. Piaggios home airfield is surrounded by terrain, and the approach is offset from the inbound course. 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. Theoretically, a newly minted multiengine pilot with a high-altitude endorsement could hop right in and go flying. 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. 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 effect is a view that changes substantially as you point the nose up or down in various phases of flight. It's been 4-18 at most. Here is the sentence: Likewise, when its time to take off, the pilot needs to set power carefully. So as fast as it is at cruise, its block times suffer as a result of the climb speed and relatively low Vmo (260 indicated) and Mmo (Mach 0.70) limitations. 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.