I’ve been using those $30 bike bags. They don’t protect the bike, they protect what the bike is touching - which may be another bike. They make loading a setup like you have pictured 3x easier.

Got a link handy?

https://www.amazon.com/CamGo-Folding-Bi ... g=btalk-20

Remove the rear derailleur, both wheels and pedals, leave the handlebars attached. There’s an internal divider for the wheels and a side pocket for the pedals and an Allen wrench or two. They’re not fancy or durable but they’re doing the job I want them to do.

A full size 29” MTB will still have one handlebar sticking out. That’s fine with me. They help tremendously with getting the bike in and out of the plane without greasy and pointy parts catching on expensive airplane interiors. At the destination, they help with sliding the bike into the back of an SUV or minivan if you aren’t racking them. A full size Turo minivan will hold 4 people and 4 bikes in these bags.

Flew 787-9 back from Europe yesterday.
Did not have a sound meter but she was nice and quiet.
FL380 got a bit bumpy and we went to FL390 then 40k and still had 6,000 foot cabin kinda like me Avanti.
Landed Philly only to learn my flight back to Charlotte delayed by 5 hours.

Oh where oh where is me Avanti.
Ended up getting aboard leg to Raleigh then Charlotte while also finding out Philly to Charlotte got delayed to after midnight arrival.

As nice as 787 ride was I would still fly Avanti non stop to Europe if only Piaggio would develop a tanker STC.

I absolutely have to fly to at least Iceland in Avanti. Scotland is only two hours further.
To those that have done trip in flight levels in a private plane what communication is required/allowed?

Duplicate.
You only “mash” the send button once!
I only mashed it once.

If you're flying above FL250 (which you are) no HF required, so you can go just with a VHF. Mode S transponder required but you'll have that as well, stupid diversity requirement in Canada applies. That's it as far as I know. Did the trip in 2019 in a King Air, flew above FL250 but had an HF anyway.

Sat in a 2019 p300 yesterday. Avanti interior felt 50% nicer. My plane is a 1992. P300 feels a bit utilitarian and side facing couch very uncomfortable.

Cockpit was head scratching. Seat felt like it needed to go further back. Track allows but cabinets do not. With it all the back it was much less comfortable than Avanti. Had it adjusted more it was probably similar. You need a second Gen p300 E to address this. I am only 6’ as well.

Given how back seat comfort is I do not understand how Avanti has not sold more planes. 90% of missions flown by p300 Avanti is within 10 minutes and back seat is 50% better. Guy writing check usually sits there.

Hopefully a new owner of Piaggio recognizes this and takes some market share. Building up support can’t be that hard. Embraer has nowhere near service center density of Textron. Get the mobile maint groups on board and that problem is solved.

What’s funny is that everyone ‘complains’ about Piaggio lack of service options. Yet everyone with a jet I meet, especially charter guys, fly’s the planes around country for maint. I talk to cj3 owners on east coast who use Weststar in grand junction. Aviation is a strange ecosystem.

Have been doing some browsing for a friend. List price on P300 JetCards appears to be about $10,000/hr. List, I'm sure you can do it many ways for less...but man, makes me feel good about Avanti cost.

I've settled into flying 1x or 2x per year to OK for service. I'm not aware of any jet service in our city...so, does it matter a bunch if I fly 1hr or 2 hrs? It would be nice if Tulsa was hub with direct flights everywhere...but they aren't...but they are good people to spend time with.

Not me, vast majority of my work is local. Avionics shop isn't, but a 45 min flight.

Legacy Citation have lots of nearby options, lots of widespread experience out there. You can have anything you want from budget local guy to high price factory service center, and all levels in-between.

I imagine maintaining a Piaggio is like maintaining an MU2. The plane is unique and rare enough that you need a shop who knows it or your are going to go broke teaching someone how to maintain it, and thus you have to fly it there for maintenance. I did that for my MU2 (but fortunately it was pretty close shop).

I don't find it surprising that IJSC in Tulsa does both. You need a special shop for both.

I'd be more worried about the Piaggio OEM and how that relates to parts and support than the maintenance shop, frankly. MU2 has been out of production for almost 40 years but parts are generally easy to get due in part to a fair amount of salvage. Piaggio is still (?) in production, but there's no cache of parts sitting around for them.

Mike C.

Any advanced A/P IA worth its salt can rework, rehab and overhaul just about anything. I have a P180 at my home airport and they owner guy has lucked upon an IA that serves about 3 in SoCal. He can basically fix anything without ever sending it out. That thing has dispatch, but I'm sure it doesn't come cheap.

Mike C - surprising to me but the amount of legacy citation work in Denver is very low. No one wants to touch them and the people that do have laughable rates. Everyone goes to grand junction -- which is just as incovenient to me as going to tulsa or houston

Hi, does anyone have a Piaggio POH pdf they could share with me?

Thanks,

Byron

That surprises me, too.

I suspect there are folks who can do the work around there if you look enough.

Textron does have a MSU based in Denver, though that's not a viable option for routine work.

Mike C.

I flew (dry lease) a P300 for about 25 hours before going Piaggio and never going back. Even at the same cost, my wife would prefer the P180. The cabins are not comparable. Piaggio is bigger than most midsize jets. Phenom is a lot smaller and I believe same tube as the P100. The P300 has several advantages, notably FL450 100% of the time (which also gets you above RVSM so trans-Atlantic is easier) with insane (~4000 fpm) climb performance, significantly better range, digital autopilot with the Garmin avionics, externally serviced lav, and crazy load carrying capacity (including monster baggage compartment) that is basically impossible to get out of balance. But I significantly prefer the P180 for hand flying. The P300 feels very disconnected to me, like a PC12. I'm not sure parts and maintenance is much easier for a P300. And the P300 is so computerized, most A&P's are hopeless. Also, there's like a 1-year wait to get a type rating in the P300. The P300 is a true Mach .80 plane , though my typical max weight cruise at FL450 (below which fuel consumption is cray) was a hair over 400 ktas.

I flew to Europe and back in my piaggio this summer and had a great time. 

Basically to fly to Europe with an N-egistered aircraft you have a few considerations. 

Rvsm and RNAV activities (esp approach, departure, and arrivals) outside the US requires FAA LOAs. I got these in less than a month with the (low-cost) help of jetrvsm, but no one ever asked for them. But people do get ramp checked in Europe. 

In Canada, flight above fl180 requires adsb diversity (top and bottom antennas).  Currently there is a waiver program. They ask you email 3 days in advance. Anecdotally they get approved quickly during business hours and the 3 days is for Friday afternoon requests. 

Between Canada and Iceland you probably won’t be able to exceed fl290. Flight between 290 and 410 requires a bunch of things, the hardest of which is HF radio (sat phone and/or Cpdlc not enough) and an FAA LOA that requires like a year to get and training.  This means stopping in Greenland and Iceland and being mindful of weather.

Greenland though is such a pleasure. So pretty; I actually much preferred it to Iceland! It's unspoiled and Game of Thrones "north of the wall" material. Just also be mindful alternates are few and far between.  Expect to do position reports and use unique language with ATC, as much airspace isn’t truly controlled— even the tower at BGBW doesn’t give ground or air clearances.  I would strongly recommend satellite weather service, though it’s not required. Int’l arrivals are generally unavailable in Greenland on Sunday, though you can pay a fee to open BGBW for a few hours. Pets are not allowed out of aircraft in Greenland or Iceland, even for potty break, period. 

Between Iceland and Europe you can fly rvsm with the regular FAA RVSM LOA. 

Note that in Europe, channel spacing is different and there are just a few other things that are enough different that you are very likely to mess up something important if you don’t take along someone with prior experience the first time. E.g., no engine start without authorization. Default activities on arrivals are slightly different (descend via vs fly are not consistent with US terminology). There are Arrival->approach transitions that are different.  The altitude at which you change from altimeter setting to std is airport- and sometimes ATC- specific. No fueling with px onboard. Pilot/crew must wear high viz vest on ramp. IFR Slot times often +\- only 5-15 min.  Generally no non-FBO vehicles on ramp.   Pressure is in different units. Etc.
 
Finally, your insurance company will likely charge you something extra. Within most of Europe (EU?), there are actual and high insurance liability minimums.  I think for the Piaggio it was around $11m. (It's MTOW-based.)

There are services that do flight planning, FBO selection, and most customs work, and help a little with fuel expense, like flightworx or air journey. Not amazing companies, but helpful. 

And most annoyingly, Europe charges for ATC. Not a lot. But you end up with several individual bills that all need to be paid via wire transfer, and fees can exceed costs.