Leonardo Helicopters yesterday revealed the first production AW609 Tiltrotor had been successfully test flown on 13 October.
The aircraft, AC5, was flown from Leonardo's Philadelphia site as the model progresses towards full FAA type certification.
This amazing achievement adds to several milestones for the AW609 programme over the last year, through its technical progress and during its public appearances," said Gian Piero Cutillo, managing Director, Leonardo Helicopters.
"Together this testifies the level of maturity this groundbreaking programme has reached and our credentials to pioneer in the emerging fast rotorcraft domain.
"I thank our integrated team of skilled and committed people across our geographies for making all of this possible, as they continue to work towards certification.”
The AW609 has been developed to combine rotorcraft-like versatility with aeroplane-like performance, providing fast point-to-point transportation at long ranges. It can transport up to nine passengers in a pressurised cabin and is expected to be operated in several sectors including business travel, EMS, SAR, offshore operations and patrols.
Leonardo has already signed up Bristow as a launch customer and has another European company that has ordered four of the type.
To date, the programme has logged nearly 1900 flight hours in the US and Italy.