Piaggio R166C - Civilian

The Piaggio P166 is an unusual-looking twin-engined light transport, with a distinctive gull-wing, 'pusher'-engine configuration. Both military and civil versions were produced, and the type continues to serve with various branches of the Italian armed forces. On show in the static display at RIAT 2019 will be a civilian example, now registered as an R166C and owned by an Italian group called I Fenicotteri (The Flamingos). It started out as Piaggio's demonstrator aircraft for the civilian P166C and went on to be flown by Italian firm Transavio. More recently, the airframe, which had fallen into disrepair, was restored to fly again by I Fenicotteri and took to the skies once more in November 2011.