Piaggio Avanti II to replace my Mustang...

That picture was shot yesterday. I flew from SMF not SMO. As of now only Santa Monica has a ban on the airplane because of its strange noise. I wasn’t within 400 miles of that placed lol. There are no other airports discussing it. It’s silly anyways as the noise dB is less than a King Air, it’s just weird sounding to people on the ground. This is due to the props being behind the exhaust.

TBO is 3600 hours

 

The acquisition cost varies for most but you can find pristine models in excellent condition for under 2 million for a II and under 1.4 million for a 1. There really isn't a lot of difference between the two except age and slightly more powerful engines. The biggest difference between then is the II has the ProLine 21 and a reorganized panel which is really nice. The I is making inroads on this though as the new TXi Garmin stuff is available and you can virtually turn the older 1's into a full glass panel with 2 TXi Garmins and 2 GTN 750s. I included a picture below of a buddy who has done this to his 1 model. He has less than 1 million in the entire airplane with a full glass panel!

You still have to use the old ADC instruments for RVSM though and keep the original engine instruments. The II has the engine and prop instrumentation integrated in the PL21. As to operations, the Piaggio is definitely less expensive than the Mustang with the ONE unknown *and its a big one* being the yearly maintenance costs. The actual inspection costs are actually lower than the Mustang but parts can be sky high for certain things that are only available from Piaggio. Fuel flow is at or lower than the Mustang and the airplane is 30-40 knots faster. Insurance for me at 1.5MM hull and 4 million smooth was 14K yearly so that was less too. The engines hot sections cost are around 35K and a overhaul is 350K each (I am fully paid up on ESP Gold which I will utilize to overhaul the engines next year then drop). The carbon brakes can be very expensive too to overhaul but there is an option from Parker to go to steel for 65K which eliminates this. I am on the list for that. (Carbon brake overhauls are 40K EACH - OUCH!)

We shall see how reliable she is. From all of the operators I talked to that ACTUALLY HAVE EXPERIENCE with flying the airplane and aren't "keyboard pilots" they are robust and very reliable. AvantAIR flew them an average of 1300 hours per year so they cant be that fragile! WE shall see!

As to the airplanes handling ,,,one word - AMAZING. Think Ferrari like. Very smooth balanced controls, excellent roll rate and super stable on approach. The airplanes only quirk is its "auto flare" I call it. You do not flare the airplane, you bring it as low as you can to the runway and reduce the power and the airplanes nose automatically flares allowing for flawless touchdowns. (well, mostly flawless anyway lol). It is as honest of airplane to fly as the Mustang was. Vr (there is no V1 in a Part 23 Turboprop) cuts are very manageable and kind of a non event. The airplane climbs around 5 -600FPM on one engine, I am sure better when you aren't at gross weight. Overall found its SE manners to be impeccable. One other nice feature is the airplanes stall characteristics. The forward wing (don't call it a canard!) is set up to stall first before the main wing so the nose dips and therefore prevents a main wing stall. My mentor demonstrated to me the benign stall.... held the stick in his lap and the airplane bobbed up and down with no break at all at 100 knots as long as he held it there! Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

No external service for the toilet unfortunately. No there is no difference.