When I heard an Avanti had showed up at RIAT while I wasn’t there, I was a touch annoyed. I am such a fan of the type that I thought missing it would be very frustrating. Fortunately, it was still at Fairford at the end of the show so the departure day was going to be the time for me to get a shot. It took off in plenty of time before I had to go so I was treated to the sight and sounds that accompany a pair of pusher props.
I am a big fan of a certain Piaggio aircraft this this post is not about the Avanti. This is an older generation of Piaggio aircraft and a piston powered one at that. However, it still goes with the theme of interesting configurations and it is a pusher. The P.166 is an interesting looking plane and this one appeared at RIAT. Apparently, it is a regular for the show but a first for me.
I didn’t see it arrive so my first look was in the static display. It was parked up at the end of the field but this was the end where I was parking so I got to see it each time I arrived. It was fenced off on the Friday but was easier to see after that. I was hoping to get a good look at it on departures day but it only backtracked a short way and then took off away from the FRIAT stand. That was a touch disappointing but there were a lot of planes to get out that day, so I guess there was no point making it use all of one of the UK’s longest runways!
Having made the effort one lunchtime to go and see an Avanti, I was quite surprised to see another one taxi out at Paine Field during Skyfair. It was a different airframe and it looked rather special. A bit of the distinctive Avanti whine and it was on its way.
Paine Field is about fifteen minutes from the office. I wouldn’t normally nip out at lunchtime to photograph something but, when I saw that an Avanti was coming in, I figured that was worth my time. They are not too common around here so grabbing my lunch and heading up was worth it. At least I knew exactly how far out it was and when it was due so I could be there just in time and get the shots before heading back to the office. It beats eating your lunch at the desk!
Not long ago, I posted about seeing an Avanti for the first time in a while. The lack of Avantis having been broken, I have seen a couple more. I saw that one had come in to Boeing Field and I was there before it fired up for its next flight. It taxied out on the opposite side of the field and then took off to the northeast.
A short while later, I saw a silhouette of a plane on approach and looked closer to see what it was. It looked pretty like an Avanti so I figured it was the same aircraft returning for some reason. I was a bit bothered that something might be wrong but happy to get another chance to shoot it. As it got closer thought, it was clearly not in the same paint scheme. Instead, it turned out to be a Canadian registered example and a pretty nice looking one at that.
Getting two Avantis within a short space of time was an outcome I was pretty pleased with. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hang around to get the departure of the second example.
I do love Avantis but, for whatever reason, I have not seen one in ages. The distinctive sound used to be something I would see quite a bit in the Midwest before Avantair went bust and their frequent appearances abruptly stopped. To see this one show up was a nice treat. I have yet to see one of the latest EVO versions. They have a five bladed prop instead of the six bladed version on the previous iterations so I have yet to find out how much the tone has changed.
