Piaggio Avanti I et II

Bonjour à tous
Pour commencer un fil sur cet avion atypique, dont la configuration pourrait devenir courante avec les open rotors, voici un long compte rendu d'exploitation de cet avion en version II aux US
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?topicName=nbaa_2010&id=news/bca/2010/10/01/BC_10_01_2010_p40-251482.xml&headline=BCA%20Operators%20Survey:%20Piaggio%20P180%20Avanti%20II
C'est assez long
Je vous avais déjà dit que j'aimais les hélices ?
Juste quelques extraits

T here are more than 100 Piaggio P180 Avanti II aircraft in service and they’ve logged more than 200,000 flight hours by some estimates, as of late August 2010. That’s an impressive number for less than five years of production, considering that only 105 of the original P180 aircraft were built between 1990 and 2005.
Perhaps that popularity is a result of Piaggio Aero Industries delivering on the promises it made for the Avanti II in late 2004, according to operators contacted for this report. The distinctive twin pusher turboprop has a 400 KTAS top cruise speed, Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics, considerably improved tanks-full payload and upgraded passenger amenities.
Piaggio predicted that the Avanti II would be 12-kt. faster in high cruise altitudes than the original P180, an aircraft that already held bragging rights as the “World’s Fastest Production Civil Turboprop.” Flight tests, though, revealed that the Avanti II was up to 20 kt. faster, primarily due to better-than-promised power output from its Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66B engines. Maxed out at 400 KTAS, the Avanti II is almost 3% faster than the first-generation aircraft while fuel flows are about half that increase. The second-generation aircraft also is slightly more fuel efficient than the original model because it can climb to higher cruise altitudes.
The Avanti II has given up nothing regarding cabin roominess and low sound levels. The 9.0 pressurization system assures that cabin altitude never exceeds 6,600 ft., even at FL 410. The aircraft’s new interior design features LED interior lighting, a choice of three seating layouts and a roomier full-width aft lavatory.
Even more so than the original P180, the $7.195 million Avanti II blurs the distinction between turboprop and turbofan business aircraft. It can fly a 600-nm trip in 1 hr., 44 min. That block time splits the difference between the 600-nm flight times of most popular turboprop and typical midsize jets. The Avanti II’s midsize cabin cross-section is essentially the same size as a midsize jet’s and the cabin is much larger than that of any production business turboprop. The interior is far quieter than that of any other turboprop, and almost as quiet as some light and medium-size jets.
Its 70.3 lb/sq. ft. wing loading, 50 to 100% higher than conventional turboprops, actually approaches that of many midsize jets. This provides a jet-like ride in turbulence. In addition, the Avanti II can cruise in the mid-thirties, or higher, flight levels at which the air typically is smoother than at the lower altitudes used by most turboprops.
The Avanti II truly is a talented performer that delivers exceptional speed, fuel efficiency and comfort, according to operators.
But some also say it is somewhat of a prima donna, a star that requires more care and maintenance than conventional models in return. Viewpoints vary widely, as we discovered when we interviewed several operators.

A noter que cet avion a été homologué pour les évacuations médicales aux US
Un autre lien vers Avantair qui a une belle flotte d'Avanti
http://www.avantair.com/piaggio-avanti-p180.html

Bonjour Poncho,

L'Avanti II est une des plus bel avion sur le marché actuellement. J'ai eu la chance d'en voir un de près récemment et j'ai été très impressionné.

Bonjour à tous

Pour vendre un peu plus le Piaggo des variantes à capacité de carburant boostée

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/piaggio-to-develop-two-extended-range-special-mission-versions-of-p180-business-aircraft-373101/?cmpid=SOC%7CFGFG%7Ctwitterfeed%7CFlightglobal

Piaggio Aero is developing two extended-range versions of its P180 Avanti II for the surveillance market - a growing business it sees as compensating for stagnating executive aircraft sales. It hopes to have the variants in service by 2015.

Although it is still working on details, the Italian company plans to install upright fuel tanks at the rear of the cabin in the space occupied by the lavatory and wardrobe on the VIP version of the six-seat twin-pusher turboprop. It will also extend the wing, together with the vertical tailplane and the canards at the front of the fuselage, although the fuselage will not change.

One version will add 400lb (180kg) of additional fuel and about 250nm (460km) to the aircraft's 1,470nm range. A second variant will allow for 800lb of extra fuel, adding 500nm.


ENAV

Piaggio also has the option of uprating its 850shp (630kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT-6A engines, which have been flat rated from 1,600hp. Two systems suppliers have been selected - Saab and Selex Galileo.

Chief executive Alberto Galassi hopes to announce a launch deal for what he calls "the first child of a new family" at February's IDEX defence exhibition in Abu Dhabi.

The company, majority-owned by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala and India's Tata, has struggled to sell VIP versions of its midsize business aircraft in recent years. Deliveries of the twin-pusher turboprop fell to only 11 aircraft in 2010, recovering slightly to 14 last year.

However, Piaggio has been encouraged by interest from the government and parapublic market, which has been increasingly viewing the P180 as a more fuel-efficient alternative to jets and larger aircraft for missions such as marine surveillance and flight inspection, says Galassi. He expects special-mission aircraft to make up about half of all P180 deliveries within a few years.

"Although it has been designed as a business aircraft, it is a very flexible platform suitable for many applications, including long-endurance patrol as well as defence and surveillance," he says. "We are expecting a big demand in coming years."

At last November's Dubai air show, Piaggio signed a deal for five special-mission P180s with JSC Flight Inspections, the Russian agency which carries out airborne inspections of the country's ground-based air navigation equipment. The first has just been delivered and negotiations are under way for a follow-up order of up to 50 more aircraft.

Piaggio has also just handed over the last of three specially configured P180s to Italian agency ENAV, which carries out similar missions in that country as well as for Kenya, Libya, Malta and Romania. The aircraft is fitted with 20 additional sensors and a cabin console built by Oslo-based Norwegian Special Mission.

As well as flight inspection aircraft, the Italian military and other agencies fly a total of nine P180s in maritime and territorial surveillance configuration. A further 18 are in service as air ambulances

Il me reste quelques souvenirs du Piaggio Avanti I.
Cet avion a été conçu par Bill Lear peu avant son décès. 
Une particularité de cet avion est que les plans avants, les ailes et la profondeur sont porteurs. Bon bilan portance/trainée mais il faut rester très vigilant sur le centrage.
La masse maxi décollage de l'avanti I est de 5500 Kg.
Toutes ces belles performances pour si peu de poids se traduit par des optimisations qui tendent au sacrifice.

Au sol :
-Tains principaux a une roue avec freins au carbone sans anti-skid. (sans commentaire)
-Freins et stearing hydrauliques dont la pression dépend d'un seul moteur électrique (qui n'aime pas l'humidité).
-Bien entendu, il n'y a pas d'APU. Je suppose que l'on pourrait imaginer une solution du type ATR avec un freinage de l'hélice
pour que la turbine droite (à l'opposé de la porte) puisse servir d'APU, mais cette solution doit aussi avoir du poids.
-Le plein peut se faire par "coupling" ou par pistolet via un bouchon unique situé coté gauche au dessus de la cellule (point haut).
-La capacité max des réservoirs est de 2900 Livres. (Avanti I)

J'ignore ce que l'Avanti II a pu corriger de ces particularités. Si cet avion doit opérer en Russie, sa plage d'utilisation doit se limiter entre le mois d'Avril et le mois d'Octobre.
Dans les temps neigeux et glacés cet avion me semble inadapté.(au sol)
Hors grands aéroports, en Russie et en Afrique les pistes sont souvent dégradées, pour cette raison il me semble que l'Avanti n'est pas le meilleur choix également pour l'Afrique.

En vol : -En température standart au niveau de vol 350, vitesse propre de 375 Kts. (Avanti I)
           -Très bonne pressurisation (le manuel disait 9,7 PSI)
           -Niveau sonore exceptionnellement bas dans la cellule ( il arrivait que des commentaires grivois soient chuchotés sur des passagères dans le cockpit, c'était souvent entendu
           et interprété comme des compliments et lesdites passagères quittaient rarement l'appareil sans remercier l'équipage...)
           - Anti givrage électrique sur les plans avants, par air chaud sur les bords d'attaque des ailes , les hélices se trouvant juste derrière les tuyères sont anti-givrées naturellement.
             Les lèvres d'entrée d'air sont dégivrées par cycle pneumatique et les particules de glaces dans l'entrée d'air sont évacuées par séparateurs (ça pompe tout de même pas mal
             de puissance ce qui dans les phases de montée retarde la sortie de la zone givrante).
             Pour les plans avants, il s'agit bien d'anti-givrage, si les plans givrent par manque d'anticipation, les ennuies commencent car ça ne dégivre pas. 
           - En approche tout réduit, les hélices se comportent comme des parachutes ce qui donne une plage d'assiette de -18° a -20° volets full sortis. Remettre un peu de gaz avant
             l'arrondi pour ne pas entrer dans la planète. Réserver ce type d'approche aux situations exceptionnelles et si vous devez l'effectuer avec des passagers il faut les avertir
             dans la mesure du possible, sinon vous ne les reverrez plus.

           
Bon avion pour l'Europe occidentale. Passe bien sur du trajet du genre Londres - Rome avec 4 passagers.
                                                  Pour du Toulouse - Filton, ça passe avec 7 passagers.(pas limité par le pétrole mais par le centrage)

Merci audac
Je suis preneur d'autres souvenirs de ce genre :-)

Un avanti long range
Avec un réservoir dans la soute arrière

1700 Nm pour les chinois (+250 Nm)

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/nbaa-piaggio-aero-puts-legs-on-avanti-392087/?cmpid=SOC|FGFG|twitterfeed|FG_bizav&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Piaggio Aero is stretching the legs – and widening the appeal – of its P180 Avanti II twin-pusher, signing a launch deal for a new 1,720nm (3,200km)-range aircraft with a Chinese operator.

SR Jet of Beijing has ordered two, and taken options on a further eight, of the revamped aircraft, which has an additional tank fitted in the wardrobe next to the lavatory, extending its range by 250nm.

The deal was signed with Piaggio’s mainland China distributor, CAEA (Beijing) Aviation Investment and the P180s will be delivered to China from March 2014.
SR Jet is part of Sparkle Roll Investments, which set up its aviation subsidiary a year ago to “aggressively develop the commuter and business aviation industry” in China.

Puet-être pas exectement le bon topic. Piaggio sous contrôle total de Mubadala Aerospace d'Abu Dhabi.

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ainalerts/2014-05-06/mubadala-takes-over-piaggio-aero

Merci Paul

Est-ce un signe?

il est beau cet avion pour la photo
http://www.journal-aviation.com/actualites/29573-aviation-d-affaires-piaggio-aerospace-livre-le-premier-avanti-evo