21/11/2020
The P.180 fleet reaches One Million Flight Hours.
Piaggio has just announced the reach of an extremely important goal for the P.180 Avanti : One Million Flight Hours since the first Avanti flight in 1986.
"Piaggio Aerospace exceeds the target in a critical moment of its history and approximately 250 aircraft have contributed to such an achievement.
Reaching one million flight hours is a passage which carries a symbolic meaning in the history of the company, which is again fully operational and still demonstrates it is of a great value.
Featuring a new livery expressly designed for the occasion, the oldest MSN 1002 flies over the sea to celebrate the event: https://lnkd.in/dJ_vy7y
#OneMillionFlightHours #P180 #PiaggioAvanti #PiaggioAerospace #AvantiEVO "
Carrying the flag of this historic event has been the prototype registered as I-PJAR, today still active in experimental activity and referred to also as serial number MSN 1002. The airplane, featuring a new livery expressly designed to celebrate this event, has been recorded in video, while flying over the stunning Ligurian coast, filmed from a piston-powered P.166, recently fully restored.
The P.180 Avanti, which in its third variant assumed the name of Avanti EVO, was designed in the early eighties by a team of engineers led by the aviation designer Alessandro Mazzoni. The target was ambitious, seemingly almost unattainable: to create a twin turboprop -- normally slower than the jets -- faster than a jet of similar dimensions, maintaining lower operating cost.
The result went beyond expectations. The aerodynamic solution with three lifting surfaces, still unsurpassed today worldwide, contributed to make it the fastest turboprop in the world, but with operating cost 40% lower than those of jets of comparable dimensions. At the same time, the pusher propellers and the fuselage design brought to the history of aviation an airplane with an unmatched large, quiet and comfortable cabin. This optimization of the performances also reflects in the aesthetic of the product, which is considered one of the coolest aircraft in the world.
Piaggio Aerospace has produced in total 264 P. 180s, of which 213 are presently in service in the five continents: 95 are operating in the Americas, 96 in Europe, 18 in the Asia Pacific, and 4 in Africa and the Middle East. The P.180 with the most years of service is known as serial number MSN1004, still flying today in the United States, while the one with the most flight hours is MSN1007 (operating in Canada), with more than 11,000 flight hours.
Orders for additional 13 airplanes are at this time under various phases of completion. Among the first ones to be delivered is the Avanti EVO by a major Asian customer, whose contract has been just recently executed: it is one of the most prominent private operators of the area, which will utilize the Avanti EVO for people transport, as well as patrolling and air ambulance missions.