Parking brake reminder

I just met up with N178SL in Van Nuys, California and noticed this
picture of a piaggio next to the parking brake handle.

I'm really glad the factory put it there so we don't forget what type
of plane we are in!

Still stuck in Kalispell, Montana

The weather cleared up today and we were able to complete a maintenance run, however, the problem was not fixed so we will be here another night.

While we were at the airport, another Avantair plane flew in and dropped off some passengers. I wanted to get a shot of the plane departing, so I waited in the below freezing weather (3 degrees Fahrenheit) for them to depart. After waiting outside for about five minutes, I was able to get this shot just as my exposed ears started hurting!

More Snowy Maintenance...Yeah!

We have been stuck in Kalispell, Montana for the past two days due to a maintenance issue. We where going to due a test run today, but due to the low visibility and unrelenting snowfall, we were unable to safely complete a test. We will have to try again tomorrow.

The current Accuweather Realfeel temperature is -15 F! It is 8 F with a 16mph wind. Good thing I brought my light weight windbreaker instead of my warm leather flight jacket! I think I will pack the leather jacket next tour.

Denver Snow Plowing

Last night we flew the plane to Denver Centennial Airport to have some maintenance work done and it was freezing... Actually, it was well below freezing at 10 degrees Fahrenheit! I think it is time to start packing my warm leather flight jacket as I have been packing my lightweight company windbreaker up until now.

The maintenance hangar was located far off the runway in the very back of the the airport and since the maintenance personnel had already gone home, we had to be escorted by the airport operations truck with his lights on to help guide us to the right hangar.

We had a good time plowing through the 4-5 inches of snow on the ground with the plane. It really felt like we where off roading the 7 million dollar plane because we couldn't tell where the ramp stopped and the dirt/grass began. We went very slow to avoid sliding around.

I took a few pictures will we waited for the FBO van to come rescue us from the bitter cold. On the van ride back to the FBO, the driver told us how happy they where that we decided to taxi the plane all the way to the maintenance hangar because if we just pulled into the FBO, the line guys would have had to tow it for twenty minutes in the sub freezing weather to the hangar.

Flying Magazine

Check out this months issue of Flying Magazine and you will see the Piaggio Avanti II featured on the cover! There is a multi-page article about the design, comfort, fuel efficiency, and speed of the Plane.

The Piaggio Avanti II is an amazing feat of engineering and reading the article made me appreciate it even more.

Click here to read the article.