Of course. The P.180 has a much rounder and wider cross-section. But I was talking about the outside on first glance, how it seems about the size of a PC-12 and just like the PC-12 seems larger in life than in photos. Admittedly I've only seen a PC-12 from the outside.

One of the most interesting things the Piaggio pilot told me is that they had looked at a PC-12, but due to various regulations in this part of the world they would have had to fly certain routes close to airports in case the PC-12 lost its engine. With the Piaggio they can fly much more direct routes. So much so that they found the costs per trip would be cheaper with the Piaggio (as well as much faster of course).

Now the owner wants to "upgrade" to a Premier 1A. I'm not sure that's really an upgrade. The pilot said the same thing to the owner. Might gain 20-30kts speed, but lose in all other areas.

I was nervous going into Simrecurrent last year having never used PL21 (I have a Garmin bird and did in-airplane initial.). Sim instructor was very accommodating. Any time I got stuck in PL21 he helped me through - understanding I was there to be a safer pilot - not there to learn PL21.

I just booked recurrent in July and was wondering if I'd have the same experience this time Previous sim instructor Marti had plans to retire and sail his cat all over around the first of the year...

Side note - I scheduled this week, and first available was July unless you wanted to be there on Memorial Day weekend...

I’m still smitten. On book performance today. I think they were right when they called “moderate mixed ice from 7 to 3”. Was +2 on the ground so a bunch had melted.

Did the ice warning fork thingy chime at any point going through convection?

It definitely did. It is very sensitive and accurate. It operates on a cycle. I won’t have this perfectly correct - but let’s say it sheds itself of ice every 5 seconds and looks for new ice. I knew the ice was heavy because just as quickly as the light went out (melt/shed current ice), it was back on (quickly accumulated new ice.)

ATC was awesome. Advised of reports, asked for reports, and instead of normal step-downs they delayed descent and provided one descent from above to below ice.

So good. Still amazes me the tail requires zero deice devices.

How quickly we get used to Avanti speed.

Thinking I broke an Avanti BT speed record yesterday....just wrong end.
FL380 with ISA +13 and TAS of only 334
129 knot headwind so my GS was a solid 205.

Headwind did subside over Northern New Mexico as well as getting lower temps so we did see True of 355 and GS of 335 before descent.

7.4 hours on hobbs on trip west but we were able to reach destination with only one fuel stop.

I did get an hour nap in the back thanks to my copilot friend up front.

What was your fuel burn?

654 gallons

654 gallons/hr at flt 380 with +13C?

654 gallons/hr at flt 380 with +13C?

468 gallons and 4.6 on Hobbs to come home from Vegas with a stop in Enid, Ok (WDG)
A bit of vectors and step climb coming out of Henderson,NV then vector a bit past final due to military traffic in Enid and pushed low way too soon (crossing VXV @FL330) coming into my home base which is just SE of Charlotte.
FL370 both legs showing ~290 per side in cruise and ISA -3 to +2.
TAS ~360-365

Departed both legs around 11,900

Luv this little two propeller aeroplane

P.S. Was a work trip meeting suppliers. I did put a Ben Franklin on black on the roulette table. #$@& little round ball stopped on red. I paid the light bill for meh…3 minutes.

Any of you PIAGGIO guys been flying in and out of KFMY Page field lately?
I live near the approach end of runway 23. Tuesday afternoon I heard the distinct sound of a PIAGGIO. Looked up and sure enough a P180 was overhead.
This morning on my morning walk about 7am I heard it again departing. Beautiful stuff.
According to Flight Aware it is N611GT out of Texas.
Just curious if it is a Beechtalker?
Best,
Jeff

We have flown into FMY a lot in the past...but sadly, Ian wiped out our marina in Ft. Myers. Surprisingly we'd see another Piaggio in there quite often. I think it was the group who runs a few out of KGRB. Holding company aptly named "CASH DEPOT"

I just made my longest P180 trip from Winter Haven, Fla. to Santa Rosa, Ca. 2138 NM in 7:13 minutes in two legs stopping at Hemphill, Texas for fuel. Landed on both legs with about 550 lbs. so about 4,500 lbs. of fuel total. We had an average of just under 40 knots on the nose. Got step climbed out of Florida in a frustratingly ridiculous way which probably cost the 13 minutes. As we got close to the west coast they started trying to descend me in eastern Nevada. But it takes a while to come down at 500 fpm .

We flew at FL36 in cruise so the cabin was about 5,000 feet. After an 8 hour trip all in I felt much less fatigued than a trip in my TBM half that length.

It really was sea to shining sea - I know, photos or it didn't happen - but it did!