Italian Piaggio P180 Avanti is a twin-engine business aircraft
The Piaggio Avanti is a twin-engine business aircraft produced by Piaggio Aero. It seats up to nine passengers in a pressurized cabin, and may be flown by one or two pilots. The innovative design places the main wing behind and above the canard-like horizontal stabiliser, and features a blended wing body with engines in pusher configuration. The Avanti's turboprop engines are placed on a mid-fuselage, high aspect ratio wing, located behind the cabin. The design utilizes both a T-tail and a pair of small, fixed anhedral canards that lack control surfaces. The arrangement of the wing surfaces allows all three to provide lift, as opposed to a conventional configuration, where the horizontal stabilizer creates a downward force to counteract the nose-down moment that a conventional main wing generates. Distinctive design features include a non-constant cross section cabin, the revolutionary shape of which approximates a NACA airfoil section. Piaggio claims the fuselage contributes up to 20% of the Avanti's total lift, with horizontal stabilizer, wing and canard providing the remaining 80%. Because of the unusual fuselage shape, the mid cabin is considerably wider than the cockpit, and the entire cabin is ahead of the main wing spar. The wing and canard airfoils are custom sections designed by Dr. Jerry Gregorek of The Ohio State University to achieve a drag-reducing 50% laminar flow at cruise. The company claims the overall design of the Avanti II enables the wing to be 34% smaller than on conventional aircraft and a specific range of nm per pound of fuel.[1] This is significantly better than the to nm/pound of similar small jets. [2] The makes a distinctive square wave noise when passing overhead, similar to the Beech Starship, due to the wing wake and engine exhaust effects on the pusher propellers. Piaggio pilots remark that exterior noise is odd sounding, although not appreciably noisier than comparable turboprop aircraft
Size: 6106px × 3992px
Location: Inverness Dalcross Airport Highland Region Scotland UK
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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