Avantair Piaggio P.180 landing at Salt Lake City ends up in a snowbank

A Piaggio P. 180 Avanti aircraft, operating as Avantair Flight 145 (registration N145SL), slid off a runway and into a snowbank at Salt Lake City International Airport this past Friday night, December 19, 2008. The incident occurred at about 9:30 PM local time as the twin-engine turboprop aircraft was arriving at Salt Lake City in poor weather. According to the FAA, there were no injuries reported among the two crew members and six passengers on board.

A brief report about the incident on the Deseret News about the incident, the aircraft became stuck in heavy snow. An airport spokeswoman said that the incident did not disrupt the airport's operations.

Avantair is a fractional operator, headquartered in Clearwater, FL. Avantair recently took delivery of its 50th Piaggio Avanti P.180 aircraft.

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Piaggio P180 Avanti lands gear up at White Plains

On the morning of August 3, 2007, an Avantair Piaggio P180 Avanti aircraft landed gear up at Westchester County Airport (HPN), White Plains, New York. According to the preliminary incident data filed today by the FAA, crew reported that the aircraft's main gear could not be extended. No one was injured, and damage to the twin turboprop aircraft was listed as "minor."

An article about the Piaggio incident on the Lower Hudson Online news website says that trouble with the aircraft's landing gear was reported at around 08:00 AM local time. The aircraft landed safely about a half hour later, but then blocked the main runway for several hours.

The HPN main runway remained closed until about 11:30 AM, when the aircraft was towed away. The runway closure caused a number of commercial flights to be delayed.

Earlier this year, the main gear of another Piaggio P180 Avanti collapsed during the aircraft's landing roll at Florida's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport.

UPDATE August 11, 2007: The EMTBravo Network has posted a set of photos of the gear up landing of this Piaggio P180 Avanti at HPN. Congratulations to the photographer for catching that spectacular series real-time of shots.

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Piaggio P.180 Avanti accident at FLL

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued a preliminary report on an accident involving a Piaggio P.180 Avanti aircraft at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport (FLL) earlier this month. The aircraft, registered to and operated by Avantair, was "substantially damaged" in the accident. The two crew were the only people on board at the time of the accident. Neither was injured.

The twin turboprop aircraft, which was operating under CFR Part 91 rules, was being repositioned from Teterboro to FLL at the time of the accident on the morning of March 20, 2007. The gear collapsed on landing.

The NTSB preliminary accident report provides these details:

According to the captain, the first officer was flying the airplane. They were landing on 9R at an approach speed of 120kts. Full flaps had been deployed.

On the landing roll the airplane began to drift to the left side of the runway. The first officer said he applied right rudder, but not to the extent necessary. He then applied right brakes. The airplane then veered right and the left main landing gear collapsed. The airplane skidded down the runway and came to rest west of taxiway Echo.

Examination of the airplane revealed the left main landing gear had collapsed, the left main tire had separated, and fuel was leaking from the airplane onto the runway. Examination of the tire revealed it had been deflated and there was a bald spot in the tread. [NTSB Report DEN07LA077].

An estimated 50 gallons of fuel leaked from the airplane, but there was no fire. The NTSB report notes that protein foam was applied to the runway surface and surrounding area.

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