It is a book of the 2012, but returns very timely in virtue of recent concerns for the future of this historic Ligurian company and for this reason the reading of this book must be driven by the interest to want to document, from the historical and technical point of view .
It is not the only book that speaks of Piaggio: we know at least three others, but this is different.
Obviously, having been written 6 years ago, it does not deal with the theme of P.2HH which is now being discussed in parliament, but if anyone who decides on this current program (and indirectly the fate of this company and its more than 1000 employees) reads at least the last chapter of this beautiful book, perhaps he would have clearer ideas of what's at stake ...
Even the description of what was found in Somalia and Mozambique by the author, when he found himself working for the delivery of P.166 and the instruction of local military pilots compared to what was later revised years later, gives rise to profound considerations in the reader, completely current.
The author's curriculum is the best guarantee of accuracy of a work that traces even the ultra-colorful history of this company, but enriches it with new and precious details that only those who worked for 30 years in first person, especially with very special tasks, can give.
Livio Iacopozzi, former technical officer of the Genio Aeronautico, attended the test school in France obtaining the Flight Experimentation Technician's patent that took him to the Experimental Flight Department.
At the same time he became a civilian airplane pilot, leaving the Air Force in 1965 for the Aeronautical and Mechanical Industries Rinaldo Piaggio SpA of Genoa, where he was hired as an experimenter and then as a test pilot.
Participates in the experimentation, production and demonstration in flight of the aircraft PD-808, P.166 and P.180 and in the 1988 assumes the role of head of the Flight Testing Service reporting directly to the Technical Management.
Leave the IAM Rinaldo Piaggio SpA in the 1993 but will return for a short period, as a consultant, in the new Piaggio Aero Industries SpA
This huge career, summarized here in just the basic steps, means having lived in first person the most important step in the evolution of a pioneer company that, "focusing everything" on the genius and manufacturing excellence of its employees, still embodies the best the Italian spirit in the aeronautical field.
Obviously the most interesting parts of this book are those that take us from the years' 60 up to P.180 "Avanti II" because in addition to being those experienced in the first person by the author (who does not spare anecdotes and details otherwise unknown), there bring to our day describing not only the technical evolution of aircraft that we have seen fly, but also that of an industry undeservedly little known.
Andrea Troncone
