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You're making me D-IZZY!
Elegant, sleek and above all amazingly fast – that’s the Piaggio P.180 Avanti. The passenger and business aircraft sporting registration D-IZZY and manufacturer serial number (MSN) 1034 used to be operated by AirGO Private Airline Gmbh, a German airline based at Mainz-Finthen airfield, and was built in 2000 by Piaggio Aerospace as part of the Piaggio Avanti series. Its Italian design makes the plane unique and very popular. But its performance is also something to write home about. The speed and range of the Piaggio P.180 Avanti are impressive: it can fly faster and further than other aircraft in this category, so it can hold its own with other light jets. Since the Piaggio P.180 Avanti can also serve very small airports, it is the most flexible aircraft in business aviation.
The model's maiden flight was in September 1987 with first series production aircraft shipping in 1990. By 2006, about 110 Piaggio P-180 Avanti are thought to have left the factory doors - one of them was our D-IZZY. Incidentally, both its first and final flight was with the founders of AirGO Daniela Flierl in the cockpit as captain and Albrecht Flierl as co-pilot, with a water fountain greeting the couple on both flights.
The Piaggio P180 Avanti has an inimitable look, its small front wing on the nose making it instantly recognisable. This unusual design drastically reduces the weight and drag, which has a very positive impact in terms of performance and cost-efficiency. The plane’s fuselage forms a continuous aerodynamically shaped curve from nose to tail. The perfect, streamlined profile of the Avanti minimises drag and maximises performance. The "pressure" design of the propeller blades also reduces air turbulence that interferes with the aerodynamics of the wing. This makes the Avanti far more aerodynamic than the traditional propeller design of other propeller-driven aircraft, like the King Air, for instance.
The P180 Avanti boasts an incredibly spacious and comfortable cabin that is considerably larger than any of the competing private jets, with an impressive headroom of 1.75m. At a speed of 400 kt or Mach 0.7, the Avanti is also as fast as a light jet but consumes just 60% of the fuel and has space for up to 7 passengers. The plane is also one of the quietest turbojet or turboprop business jets on the market, with a noise level of just 68 dbA, it is quieter than many mobile phone ringtones. Our D-IZZY was based at Avignon Airport in southern France, forming part of the largest Piaggio Avanti fleet in Europe. It was ferried from Avignon to Moenchengladbach for its final teardown in 2021.
We are thrilled to be welcoming the Italian star to our Aviationtag family! Did you get your D-IZZY piece yet?
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