Joe is a very knowledgeable and great guy.

So does this make the Garmin panel upgrade viable for the Avanti II/Evo now?

So does this make the Garmin panel upgrade viable for the Avanti II/Evo now?

Other than RVSM (now in testing) and the Garmin GFC Autopilot, what else is missing?

I think there are some miscellaneous systems that are stand alone in the I but integrated into the Proline 21 Avionics in the 2. EG, fuel gauges. I gather that EIS excludes fuel gauges because the Piaggio is dual excitement and Garmin only supports single excitement at present.

But hopefully it's doable.

Let me try something else, here. Just brainstorming. Aside from the possibilities for the retrofit market, what would you like to see as the next evolution of a NEW Avanti (let's say a Super Evo)? You could think of any subject. For instance cabin configuration (a high density shuttle for 8 passengers with a fwd lav never started, because the interest was moderate), avionics (is a full Garmin 3000 Prime the most desirable integrated suite or the Proline Fusion would do it?), range and performance (Max Gross Wt increase), a better ECS or electrically heated air intakes, an externally serviceable toilet, emergency auto land, ...these just come to my mind, but it's a free country, feel free to disagree. How important would be to keep the Cat II approach and Steep Approach capability? And I know about spare parts cost, availability,....this is another subject.

Whats the actual specs of the EVO+ that have been delivered to the military?

I've read it has "enhanced avionics" but not sure what exactly that means.

My wishlist for a new Evo, as a private owner, would be:

1. Garmin avionics

2. Probably a reduced sales price to compete better with a new M2 for example.

3. Some attention to making the maintenance program a bit tighter and more rational.

3. Fuel tank for more range, though they do offer this currently for new aircraft. But it'd be nice to make it more usable by moving the additional tankage further forward for better CG management with light loads.

4. Getting rid of the deice boots on the engine intakes would be nice, move those to bleed air. This is way down the list though.

Honestly it's a capable airplane currently, they really just need to do a better job selling it. That probably mostly requires the Garmin avionics, more aggressive pricing, clear steps on support infrastructure, and a clear indication the new owners plan to be in the passenger aircraft business for the long haul.

That said, I have more opinions on what they could offer me as retrofits, but you precluded that in your question.

My wishlist for a new Evo...

A new Evo started at $7.7M, last I knew, and with a few options it was easy to get to $8M (enlarged door, TCAS II, in flight connectivity, supplemental tank, CVR/FDR, custom metallic paint,....). I do not know the details, but the latest deliveries to the Italian Air Force still show the Collins Proline 21 avionics. Do not quote me, but I think they also have Kaman steel brakes, new digital pressurization control, new air conditioner, Magnaghi landing gear, torque limiter...I do not know if any additional military COMM radios are added.

Put in Garmin. Add Autoland. Reduce center console to make pilot seat access easier. Make smaller volume seats a la pc24 which would make cabin feel massive.

If they do that they have a plane that competes very well in the market.

Curious as to what percentage of small airport FBOs can clean out an externally serviceable LAV?

I just flew west into a 120 knot headwind with a ground speed (260) of a king air in no wind.
Cleaning out the LAV occasionally is a small price to pay.

So does this make the Garmin panel upgrade viable for the Avanti II/Evo now?

I would not want it. The current system works well, is powerful, a true FMS. Much better than G1000 in my experience.[/quote]

Your opinion, def not mine. FMS is too much heads down. Had enough of it in the airline world. PL21 is archaic in my opinion.

I am no seriously looking into switching to an Avanti.
Thank you all for the support so far. I have a few remaining questions:
-do we have a good list, or recommendations, of shops that work on Avantis?
-can anyone give me some input on what is roughly the expected cost is for the A/B/C/D inspections? Form the maintenance manual, the twelve month items seem very minor, is that correct?
-As a result, it seems that a utilization of either 100 or 200 hours per year is fairly optimum, to overlay annual items with 200hr items?

Is there an Avanti owner who would have time for a call to tell me more about their purchase, flight and ownership experience?

Is there an Avanti owner on the West Coast who would be willing to meet up and show my family the plane?

Insurance seems to be challenging, according to my broker, and apparently much harder since the sale to Baykar as that adds a lot of uncertainty for an insurance as to parts availability. Has anyone run into this issue yet and which companies are you insured with?

Finally, that's great news about the EIS integration with Garmin, but is there any practical need for it? Its the only thing I did not integrate into Garmin on my KA and don't miss it, but maybe there are some systems in the Piaggio that it would be really useful for?

Thank you,

FLorian