Piaggio P180 Avanti
Aircraft of the Week - Piaggio P180 Avanti The Piaggio P180 Avanti is a unique aircraft, loved by many, ridiculed by others. Those who have seen the P180 Avanti in person have realized how beautiful of a turboprop it is, especially compared to other turboprops sharing its basic specifications. What makes the P180 Avanti so great? Firstly, the P180 Avanti has a small forward wing, in addition to a rear wing, generally, this type of forward wing has never been seen outside of supersonic aircraft (with some exceptions of course). The P180 Avanti’s forward wing is meant to compensate for how incredibly far back the main wing is, with the rear wing nearly reaching the tail section. It is hard to miss that the twin turboprop engines on the P180 Avanti are pointing backwards instead of forwards. These two turboprop engines are mounted behind the cabin, and instead of pulling air towards the rear, these engine push the air backwards. But why this unique configuration for this turboprop? The P180 Avanti has a cruise speed of 455 mph, something more comparable to a light jet than a turboprop. For example, the Cessna CJ1 cruises at 447 mph while offering a range of 1,300 nm, whereas the P180 Avanti has a longer range, approximately 1,500 nm. This is due to the unorthodox aircraft’s configuration of rear mounted rear pushing turboprop engines. This engine configuration not only helps fuel economy, but also cabin noise levels. The rear pushing engines are known to be loud, but only to the outside world, in the cabin, the noise is a manageable 68 dBA, quite a bit quieter than traditional turboprops. The fuel burn rate for the P180 Avanti is 3.1








