The Piaggio P.166 is an Italian twin-engine pusher-type

utility aircraft A utility aircraft is a general-purpose light airplane or helicopter, usually used for transporting people, freight, or other supplies, but also used for other duties when more specialized aircraft are not required or available. The term can al ...

developed by

Piaggio Aero Piaggio Aerospace, formerly known as Piaggio Aero Industries, is a multinational aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Villanova d'Albenga, Italy. The company designs, develops, manufactures and maintains aircraft, aero-engines, aer ...

. The aircraft model name was Portofino, and is also known as Albatross in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n military service.

Design and development

The basic P.166 was a development of the P.136 amphibian and flew for the first time on 26 November 1957.Taylor 1961, p. 105. The P.166 had a new fuselage and tail unit but retained the wing and engines from the P.136. Several were purchased for use as executive transports or as feeder and taxi aircraft. The improved P.166B was more powerful and had up to ten seats; a prototype was first flown on 27 March 1962. A further version, the 12-seater P.166C with improved undercarriage, first flew on 2 October 1964. A turboprop-powered variant, the P.166D, was developed with Lycoming LTP101 engines and it first flew on 3 July 1976.

Variants

;P.166 :Prototypes powered by Lycoming GSO-480-B1C6 engines, three built.Simpson 1991, pp.232-233 ;P.166AL1 :First production version with non-slanted cockpit side windows. Accommodation for two pilots and six–eight passengers. Powered by 340 hp (250 kW) Lycoming GSO-480-B1C6 engines,Taylor 1961, p. 106. 29 built. ;P.166B Portofino :Revised, more powerful version with longer nose. Powered by two 380 hp (283 kW) Lycoming IGSO-540-A1C engines.Taylor 1965, p. 97. Five built.Taylor 1976, p. 114. ;P.166BL2/APH :Photo survey aircraft for Italian Air Force. Two built. SAAF Piaggio P166 01

;P.166CL2 :Feederliner version of P.166B with external landing gear pods to allow a revised cabin giving room for up to 12 passengers.Stroud 1994, p. 66. Two built. or another source gives four built ;P.166DL3 :Light utility transport version, powered by two 450 kW (600 hp) Lycoming LTP101-600

turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...

engines.Nicolli 2012, p. 89. 14 built including sub-variants. ;P.166DL3/APH :Photo survey aircraft version of -DL3. Six built for Italian Air Force.Nicolli 2012, pp. 88–90. ;P.166DL3/MAR :

Maritime patrol Maritime patrol or maritime reconnaissance is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities. Maritime patrol refers to active ...

version of DL3. Two built for Somalia. ;P.166DL3/SEM :Paramilitary maritime patrol (SEM - ''Sorveglianza Ecologia e Marittima'' - Maritime and ecological surveillance) version of DL3. 12 aircraft built for Italian Coast Guard and ten for ''

Guardia di Finanza The Guardia di Finanza (; G. di F. or GdF; or ) is an Italian militarised law enforcement agency under the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Italy), Ministry of Economy and Finance, instead of the Ministry of Defence (Italy), Ministry of Defence ...

''.Nicolli 2012, p. 90. ;P.166DP1 :Re-engined version with Pratt & Whitney PT6A-121 turboprops. Eight converted (two from -DL3 and six from -DL3/SEM) for ''Guardia di Finanza''.Nicolli 2012, pp. 90–91. ;P.166M :Military version of P.166A, 49 built for Italian air force.Nicolli 2012, p. 88. ;P.166S Albatross :Coastal patrol, search and rescue version of the

South African Air Force The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...

with longer P.166B-type nose and larger tip tanks, 20 built.Nicolli 2012, pp. 88–89.

Operators

; *Air Associated *Air Research * Ansett-ANA * Ansett-MAL *Australian Federal Government *Confederate Airways *East Coast Airways *Forrester Stephen Aviation *GAAF Air Charter *

MacRobertson Miller Airlines MacRobertson Miller Airlines (MMA) was a Western Australian airline that operated between 1927 and 1993. It served a changing roster of destinations in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, concentrated on services between Perth and ...

*Motif Air *Papuan Air Transport *Papuan Airlines *

Queensland Airlines Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, ...

*South Pacific Airways - SPA *Tasman Airlines ; *

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. ...

Italian Air Force The Italian Air Force (; AM, ) is the air force of the Italy, Italian Republic. The Italian Air Force was founded as an independent service arm on 28 March 1923 by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, King Victor Emmanuel III as the ("Royal Air Force ...

received 49 P.166M between 1960 and 1968,Nicolli 2012, pp. 87–88. two P.166BL2/APH photo survey aircraft and six P.166-DL3/APH photo survey aircraft. *

Corps of the Port Captaincies - Coast Guard Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

received 12 P.166-DL3/SEM between 1988 and 1990. Retired July 2017.Marcellino 2018, p. 88. *''

'' received two ex-''Alitalia'' P.166-DL3 as trainers/utility aircraft in 1990 and ten new-built P.166-DL3/SEM between 1991 and 1995. Eight aircraft converted to P.166DP1 standard. Planned to remain in service until 2020. *Italian Ministry of Merchant Marine ; * Somalian Aeronautical Corps purchased two P.166-DL3 utility aircraft and two P.166-DL3/MAR maritime patrol aircraft in 1980. ; *

27 Squadron SAAF 27 Squadron was established as a World War II maritime patrol squadron of the South African Air Force. It was disbanded after the war and resurrected in the same role from 1951 to 1958. Its final period of service was from 1962 to 1990 when it was ...

Notable accidents and incidents

* On 14 August 2011 two privately owned P.166s (formerly with the

) flying in formation crashed near Tzaneen in South Africa when they both flew into a cliff face near the summit of Mamotswiri Peak in dense mist. All thirteen on board the two aircraft were killed.

Specifications (P.166-DL3)

References

* Marcellino, Dino. "Piaggione". ''Air International'', Vol. 94 No.2, February 2018. . pp. 88–91. * Niccoli, Ricardo. "Piaggione! The Varied Career of Piaggio's P.166 Pusher". ''

Air International ''AIR International'' is a British aviation magazine covering current defence aerospace and civil aviation topics. It has been in publication since 1971 and is currently published by Key Publishing Ltd. History and profile The magazine was fir ...

'', Vol. 82 No. 4, April 2012. ISSN 0306-5634. pp. 86–91. * Simpson, R.W. ''Airlife's General Aviation'', Shrewsbury, England: Airlife Publishing, 1991, * Stroud, John. "Post War Propliners: Piaggio P.134 & P.166". ''

Aeroplane Monthly ''Aeroplane'' (formerly ''Aeroplane Monthly'') is a British magazine devoted to aviation, with a focus on aviation history and preservation. __TOC__ ''Aeroplane Monthly'' Issue 1 of ''Aeroplane Monthly'' was published in May 1973 at a cov ...

'', Vol 22 No 4, April 1994. pp. 64–67. * Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1961–62''. London: Sampson Low, Marston and Company, 1961. *Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965–66''. London: Sampson Low, Marston and Company, 1965. *Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1976–77''. London: Jane's Yearbooks, 1976. .

External links

{{Italian military aircraft 1950s Italian civil utility aircraft P.166 Twin-engined pusher aircraft Twin-turboprop pusher aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1957 Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear