Everything You Need To Know About The First Civilian Tilt Rotor Aircraft

I found this at Flight Club which is part of Jalopnik. Pretty cool article with some nice pictures.




AW609 Departing 2015 Heli Expo from HeliOps on Vimeo.

"Originally labeled the, Bell/Agusta BA609, the design drew on experience gained from Bell's work on the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey. The BA609 prototype took its first test flight in 2003 in Arlington, TX and in 2005, the first conversion from helicopter to airplane mode while in flight took place.

By 2009, Bell began dragging their feet while dissatisfied with commercial prospects with the civilian tilt-rotor program. AgustaWestland bought out Bell's share of the program to speed up development. By the end of 2011, the transfer of ownership was complete including full transfer of technologies shared with the V-22."

I don't care what anyone says, this is a neat thing. I love the new stuff! Yes, it is complicated but the V-22 in various versions is now serving the Air Force and Marine Corps rather well. Fly by wire and FADEC are allowing for new possibilities. 

The rest of the post is at the link below.

http://flightclub.jalopnik.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-first-civilian-ti-1689618757