Back at Farnborough and back on the market after a long absence is the distinctive shape of the Piaggio P.180 Avanti executive turboprop. Piaggio Aero Industries, which acquired the aerospace assets of the Rinaldo Piaggio company last year, will deliver 12 of the roomy, jet-speed (Mach 0.67/395 kt), twin-pusher transports this year, including two to the Ferrari car company.
Production is to build to 21 units in 2001 and 26 in 2002.

CEO Jose di Mase says that that the time is ripe to restart the production line. "The economy is booming in the U.S., and the major companies are booked two to thee years ahead, so there is room for a good product now. A few years ago, the P.180 was ahead of its time. Now, it's a mature product." Piaggio America CEO Steve Hanvey (no stranger to Farnborough-he demonstrated the Apache helicopter here in 1982) says that the P.180 is attracting all kinds of customers, from single-pilot Baron and Conquest owners to corporate flight departments impressed by its large cabin.
"It has Citation performance with turboprop efficiency and a Hawker-sized cabin," he says. Other selling points include turboprop field performance and low noise.

According to di Mase, the P.180's early history-the project was launched in 1982, but only some 36 aircraft were delivered before the production line stopped-has had one benefit. "It has had, in effect, a long test program with a few aircraft. There are very few things that are problem failures."

The P.180 is a unique aircraft. The configuration was chosen to place the wing in the mid-position behind the cabin, reducing drag and landing gear weight and providing maximum cabin space. The high-aspect-ratio wing uses a special laminar flow section designed by Ohio State University, and is fitted with large area-increasing Fowler flaps. A flap on the forward wing offsets the nose-down pitch moment caused by the flaps, and the T-tail provides all pitch control. The design gave far less trouble than the contemporary Beech Starship, offered a wider cabin, and outran it by 30-40 kt on the same power.

By Bill Sweetman

Sidebar
On show here at Farnborough is the latest Avanti P.180 Executive Turboprop, on loan as a demonstrator from Ferrari, which explains the famous prancing horse on the tail.

The curvaceous Avanti has long been known as a luxurious speedster, well in line with the tradition of Italy's sports cars. So it's no surprise that the chairman of Piaggio is none other than Piero Ferrari, son of the famous Enzo who built the formidable motor racing team and car manufacturer.

Piero Ferrari earlier told Show News the Ferrari image will help market the Avanti.

The famous "Cavalino Rampante" was the personal emblem of Italian World War I ace Francesco Baracca. He was killed not in air combat, where he scored 34 victories, but while strafing the front lines in his Spad S.VII. The prancing horse was presented to Enzo Ferrari by Baracca's family to put on his racing car for good luck.