A Piaggio P.180 in flight, demonstrating the unique design.

The Piaggio P.180 Avanti is a twin-engine business aircraft produced by Piaggio Aero. It seats up to nine passengers in a generous pressurized cabin, and may be flown by one or two pilots. Download high resolution version (902x662, 108 KB)Piaggio P180 airplane Producers homepage This is a copyrighted image that has been released by a company or organisation to promote their works in the media. ... Download high resolution version (902x662, 108 KB)Piaggio P180 airplane Producers homepage This is a copyrighted image that has been released by a company or organisation to promote their works in the media. ... Piaggio Aero Industries is an aircraft manufacturing company born from the former Rinaldo Piaggio SPA, an Italian company. ... Piaggio Aero Industries is an aircraft manufacturing company born from the former Rinaldo Piaggio SPA, an Italian company. ... Cabin pressurization is the active pumping of air into the cabin of an aircraft to increase the air pressure within the cabin. ... It has been suggested that Pilot (spaceflight) be merged into this article or section. ...

Configuration

The Avanti has turboprop engines in a pusher configuration, placed on a mid-fuselage, high aspect ratio wing. The wing is located very far aft, behind the cabin, and the highly unconventional design also features a T-tail and a fixed foreplane (not technically a canard, as it is not used to control the pitch of the aircraft). This arrangement allows all three wing surfaces to provide lift in the upwards direction, as opposed to a conventional configuration, where the horizontal stabilizer creates a downward force, requiring the main wing to produce more lift to balance this force, and thus increasing induced drag. The Avanti's aerodynamics and turboprop engines result in an extremely efficient aircraft. A schematic diagram showing the operation of a turboprop engine. ... A British WWI-era F.E.2b pusher. ... In an aircraft, the fuselage is the main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. ... The low aspect ratio wing of a Piper PA-28 Cherokee In aerodynamics, the aspect ratio is an airplanes wings span divided by its standard mean chord (SMC). ... A Laughing Gull on the beach in Atlantic City. ... In aircraft a T-tail is an arrangement of the tail control surfaces with the horizontal surfaces (tailplane and elevators) mounted to the top of the fin, rather than the more common location on the fuselage at the base of the fin. ... In aeronautics, canard (French for duck) is a type of fixed-wing aircraft in which the tailplane is ahead of the main lifting surfaces, rather than behind them as in conventional aircraft. ... Flight dynamics is the study of orientation of air and space vehicles and how to control the critical flight parameters, typically named pitch, roll and yaw. ... The tail of a Lufthansa airliner (Airbus A319) in flight, showing the horizontal and vertical stabilizer Mathematics: see Group action. ... In aerodynamics, lift-induced drag, or more simply, induced drag, is a drag force arising from the generation of lift by wings or a lifting body during flight. ...

Distinctive design features include a non-constant cross section cabin, the shape of which is a figure of revolution based on a NACA airfoil section. The mid cabin is therefore considerably wider than the cockpit, and the entire cabin sits ahead of the main wing spar. The wing and canard airfoils are custom sections designed by Dr. Jerry Gregorek of Ohio State University to achieve 50% laminar flow at cruise. NACA may mean: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics National Association for Campus Activities [1] Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific, an industry association of shrimp farmers and other aquaculture industries. ... An airfoil (in American English, or aerofoil in British English) is the shape of a wing or blade (of a propeller or ships screw or sail) as seen in cross-section. ... Laminar flow (bottom) and turbulent flow (top) over a submarine hull. ...

History

The P.180 was wind tunnel tested in Italy and the U.S. in 1980 and 1981. A collaboration with Learjet to develop the aircraft was begun in 1982, ending in 1986, when the prototype first flew. U.S. certification was obtained in 1990. The first 12 fuselages were built in Wichita, with H & H Parts and Plessey Midwest, then flown to Italy for assembly. Avanti Aviation Wichita ran out of money in 1994; the project languished until a group of investors led by Peiro Ferrari became involved in 1998. The 100th aircraft was delivered in October 2005. Wichita is the name of: Wichita (tribe), a Native American tribe Wichita language, the language of the tribe Wichita (film), a 1955 American Western movie directed by Jacques Tourneur Wichita Recordings, a London based independent record label A song by the band Soul Coughing A font replicating the hand writing... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

The P.180 makes a distinctive square wave noise when passing overhead, similar to the Beech Starship, due to wing wake and engine exhaust effects on the propeller. A square wave is a kind of basic waveform. ... Categories: Stub | U.S. civil utility aircraft 1980-1989 ...

A new Avanti II obtained European and US certification in November 2005. Six months later, seventy planes were already ordered (36 by Avantair). Avantair is an american airline (headquartered at Fairfield, New Jersey and based at Essex County Airport, Caldwell, New Jersey). ...

Specifications (P.180)

General characteristics

• Crew: one or two pilots
• Capacity: up to nine passengers; 1,999 lb (907 kg) payload
• Cabin dimensions: 5 ft 6 in (1.75 m) high, 5 ft 10 in (1.85 m) wide, 14 ft 6 in (4.45 m) long
• Length: 14.40 m (47 ft 2 in)
• Wingspan: 14.03 m (46 ft)
• Height: 13 ft 1 in (3.98 m)
• Wing area: 16 m² (172.2 ft²)
• Empty weight: 3,400 kg (7,500 lb)
• Useful load: 1,862 kg (4,105 lb)
• Maximum Take-Off Weight: 5,262 kg (11,601 lb)
• Powerplant: 2× Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66 turboprops, 1,107 kW (1,485 shp thermodynamic, derated to 850 shp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 737 km/h (398 kt)
• Cruise speed: 644 km/h (348 kt)
• Range: 2,595 km (1,400 nm) (one pilot, six passengers and IFR reserves)
• Service ceiling: 12,500 m (41,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 14.98 m/s (2950 ft/min)
• Wing loading: 327.4 kg/m² (67.07 lb/ft²)
• Power/mass: 4.13 kg/kW (6,79 lb/hp)

The distance AB is the wing span of this Aer Lingus Airbus A320. ... In aviation, the Maximum Take-Off Weight (or MTOW) is the maximum weight with which an aircraft can achieve flight. ... The PT6 is a turboprop aircraft engine manufactured by Pratt & Whitney Canada. ... A schematic diagram showing the operation of a turboprop engine. ... VNO of an aircraft is the V speed which refers to the velocity of normal operation. ... VC may stand for: vehicular cycling Venture capital Vice-county Victoria Cross Viet Cong Vinyl chloride Virginia Central Railway (AAR reporting mark VC) virtual circuit Visual C++ Volkov Commander (file manager) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: ISO country code This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages... The maximal total range is the distance an airplane can fly between takeoff and landing as limited by its fuel capacity. ... Service Ceiling—The maximum density altitude where the best rate-of climb airspeed will produce a 100 feet-per-minute climb at maximum weight while in a clean configuration with maximum continuous power. ... This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... In aerodynamics, wing loading is the loaded weight of the aircraft divided by the area of the wing. ... Power-to-weight ratio is a measure commonly used when comparing various vehicles (or engines), including automobiles, motorcycles and aircraft. ...

External links

• Airliners.net Photos
• Piaggio Aero Industries

Related content

Comparable aircraft

• LearFan
• Beechcraft Starship

Designation sequence

P.148 - P.149 - P.166 - P.180 The LearFan turboprop was made of lightweight composite materials instead of the standard aluminum. ... Beechcraft 2000 Starship (NASA) Beechcraft Starship (NASA) The Beechcraft Starship is a futuristic-looking aircraft designed by Burt Rutans Scaled Composites, and produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation. ...

Related lists

• List of airliners
• List of civil aircraft

  This list of aircraft is sorted alphabetically, beginning with the name of the manufacturer (or, in certain cases, designer). ... A non-comprehensive list of modern civilian aircraft with descriptions. ...