AgustaWestland has overcome a key hurdle on its AW609 civil tiltrotor programme, with the completion of autorotation trials.
Beginning at the end of March, the tests totalled 10h and were conducted from the airframer’s facility in Arlington, Texas.
In all, some 70 power-off conversions were performed, AgustaWestland says, transitioning from wing-borne mode to helicopter operation.
Monitoring was conducted by the US Federal Aviation Administration, which is the lead certification agency on the programme.
AgustaWestland
AgustaWestland says the AW609’s behaviour during the manoeuvres was “very benign”, and its performance “exceeded [the] expected characteristics”.
“This latest goal provides further evidence of the AW609’s quality in terms of design, performance and safety in the most demanding conditions,” it says.
The airframer is also continuing the industrial ramp-up of the programme to “guarantee” that deliveries can start immediately after certification.
Details of the AW609’s customer base have yet to be revealed, although AgustaWestland claims around 60 firm orders for the tiltrotor. Certification is targeted for 2017.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
