Luxury at 41,000 Feet

in Featured Toys by Profile — November 12, 2009 at 10:49 am | 1 comment

A heavy mist occupied the car’s windshield wipers while en route to Lee C. Fine Airport on a heavily overcast Saturday morning. The previous afternoon, the thick clouds were pierced by one of the most sophisticated turboprop airplanes on the market as it landed with its precious cargo of family and friends for the holiday weekend.

Piaggio Aero
P180 Avanti II
Cost: $7 million (more or less, depending on accessories)
Maximum Cruising Speed: 400 knots (460.3 miles per hour)
Seating: 8 passengers + 2 crew

Dimensions
External:    Length: 47.3 feet
Height: 13.0 feet
Wing Span: 46.0 feet

Internal:    Length: 14.1 feet
Height: 5.8 feet
Width (Maximum): 6.1 feet
Width (Floor): 4.3 feet

Power:    Engine: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66B
Thrust: 850 hp. each engine

Weight:    Maximum Ramp Weight: 12,150 pounds
Maximum Payload: 2,000 pounds
Maximum Fuel: 2,802 gals.

Certified Ceiling: 41,000 feet

Inside a monstrous hangar sat a Piaggio Avanti II p180 glistening under the high-intensity lights. If first impressions tell all, then the sleek, dolphin-shaped plane makes the grade. Not only is the Piaggio the fastest turboprop on the market, it flies like a Ferrari, noted David Visser, chief pilot for the Piaggio’s Dallas-based owner. The Avanti is appointed like one as well. It should. It’s made by Ferrari.

Visser was ready for the plane to be photographed. The Ground Power Unit (GPU) hummed nearby, its umbilical cord providing artificial life for the complex and exotic electronics and electrical system. He and co-captain Jeff Crayton, retired Delta Airlines pilot, had wiped the Piaggio down after Friday afternoon’s rainy landing.

Visser flies for an Omaha, NE, native who is in the energy management business in Dallas. A graduate of Creighton University in Omaha, the plane’s owner visits the Lake frequently in the summer as one of his several vacation hangouts. Others are in the Caymans, San Diego, Omaha and a 26,000-acre exotic game and buffalo ranch in central Texas.

The Piaggio is made in Italy and carries some of that Italian elegance throughout. It is the only aircraft in its class with a true stand-up cabin with a height of 5 feet, 8 inches. Besides being able to stand up straight, passengers can move about freely thanks to the large cross-section of the cabin. The space inside the p180 Avanti II is comparable with that offered by aircraft of a significantly higher class and price.

In addition to its speed, the Avanti II features new high tech interior options including broadband connectivity, mood lighting and electro chromatic window shades.

“This has the nicest Piaggio interior in the world,” Visser said of the one he flies. He should know. Highlights include eight leather passenger seats, a leather seat that doubles as a toilet, wood-grain armrests, four drop-down LCD screens for movies, two DVD players, an additional screen for video gaming and MP3. He has piloted his share of Piaggios and is one of the most experienced Piaggio pilots in the world.

Thanks to the innovative shape of the fuselage, the aerodynamic solutions developed after various hours of wind tunnel test, the position of the engines, and the special five-blade propellers, the p180 Avanti II is one of the most comfortable airplanes on the market. The oversized baggage compartment, which is accessible from the outside, can accommodate extra-large baggage and can even carry skis and golf bags.

The p180 Avanti II is equipped with the Collins Pro Line 21 digital avionics suite, which is completely integrated with the aircraft’s navigation and communication systems, and is certified for all types of flying, even with a single pilot. The integrated digital cockpit was designed to offer the most advanced technology available on the market.

The Piaggio has an innovative aerodynamics solution, the Three-Lifting-Surface Configuration. The forward wing of the aircraft (which cannot be called a true “canard” because it lacks control surfaces) contributes to lift, since it is a fixed surface, and is equipped with high lift devices that move together with the flaps on the main wing. What’s more, the push configuration of the propellers prevents propeller turbulence from interfering with wing aerodynamics, which effectively lowers total drag and provides performance that is significantly higher than in aircraft with pull propellers.

For the flying tekkies, the forward wing produces nose-up lift that offsets the nose-down pitching movement produced by the main wing.

Up front
The pilot and co-pilot have adjustable and reclining seats. The Avanti II avionics are based on the Rockwell Collins ProLine 21 suite and include three 10×8 liquid crystal displays, an FMS 3000 flight management system and AHS 3000 attitude heading reference system.

The radar and navigation systems include the Collins WXR-840 color radar and a dual Collins VIR-32 VOR, a Collins ADF-462 automatic direction finder, DME-42 distance measuring equipment and ALT-55B radar altimeter. XM satellite radar can be added as an option.

A vibrating ice detection probe triggers a cockpit warning of ice accretion. Bleed air is used for wing leading edge anti-ice protection and electric heating elements prevent ice from forming on the forward wing leading edge. Deicer boots on the engine inlets protect the engines. Electrical heaters keep the windshields, probes and static ports free of ice buildup. It is one of the very few aircraft certified to fly in freezing rain.

Green Machine
The Piaggio Aero p180 Avanti II can rightly be called a “green aircraft.” It’s the most environmentally friendly airplane in business aviation because it uses 40 percent less fuel than equivalently sized jets.

But that’s not all. The production process for the aircraft has been awarded special certification for its environmental management system.

Additionally because of the aircraft’s excellent takeoff and landing performance and perfect pressurization, the Piaggio Aero p180 Avanti II is one of the most widely used aircraft for public services such as an air ambulance and air rescue, law enforcement missions by the military, and flight inspections that ensure the safety of persons
and property.

Even in these difficult times for the economy and for the planet, the p180 Avanti II is the best way to fly.

The Pilot
Visser first became interested in flying at about seven years old from an uncle who gave him his first flight in a Cessna 182. After landing, Visser declared to his parents, “I’m going to be a pilot.” He stayed with that dream his whole life.

Visser, a native of Vergennes, VT, received a degree in 1990 from Daniel Webster College in Aviation Management/Flight Operations. At DWC, he studied the theory behind lift, kinetic and potential energies and aviation law. The minor in flight operations consisted of flying standard Cessna trainers, then advancing to motor gliders and aerobatic planes.

“What can I say, I love flying upside down”, Visser quipped. Visser went back to school to earn a second bachelor of science in business administration/finance. He then started his own sightseeing business, Viss-Air, with a leased Cessna 182 to build flight hours toward a career in corporate aviation. Visser’s career “took off” when he “landed” a job with a company that managed Fleet Bank’s aircraft.

After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Visser was laid off. It was a blessing in disguise. He heard about a “strange looking aircraft” with amazing flight capabilities. He tracked down the chief pilot of a startup fractional airline that had recently purchased two Piaggios. He was hired on the spot.

“I was the second captain they hired,” Visser says. After a year and a half, he was promoted to assistant chief pilot and a year later was asked to be chief pilot when the current CP was leaving the company.

“I found myself now running a flight department of approximately 100 pilots and 22 Piaggios. We grew the company very quickly. We worked 24/7 thanks to Blackberry technology,” he explained.
When asked to come out to Dallas and train a captain for a local corporation in a new Piaggio, Visser jumped at the chance.

“The CEO offered me the full time job immediately,” Visser noted.

After flying as Eagle Materials’ chief pilot for several years, the housing market turned sour and Visser learned he was to be laid off again. His current employer heard he was available and offered him a job immediately.

“I never even missed a day of work between the two jobs,” Visser says. “I’ve been very fortunate.”

Visser now spends his summers on Lake of the Ozarks. His employer has a condo for him on the Lake.

“There was a boat slip there so I headed down to Kelly’s Port Marina, bought a 28-foot Regal and spend my days on the water. But I always keep an eye on the sky,” he says.

Tags: Avanti 2 Collins Piaggio