Aerospace Daily: Bell/Agusta BA609 Civil Tiltrotor On Track Following V-22 Progress

Encouraged by the performance of the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey military tiltrotor aircraft since its return to flight, Bell/Agusta Aerospace Company is moving forward with the development and production of its BA609 civilian tiltrotor.

Despite significant differences between the two aircraft, the future of the BA609 had been in doubt after the V-22 was grounded after two fatal accidents in 2000. Bell/Agusta elected to slow production of the civilian version, pending the results of the V-22's return to flight (DAILY, April 17).

Since flight tests resumed in May, however, support for the V-22 has been buoyed by the aircraft's performance and a series of successful recent visits by high-level Pentagon officials (DAILY, Sept. 25).

"The V-22 is doing well, and so we're moving ahead now on the 609," Bell Boeing Tiltrotor Team spokesman Bob Leder told The DAILY.

The BA609 began its first ground tests Dec. 6 at Bell's Flight Research Center in Arlington, Texas, but poor weather delayed further testing over the weekend. Although no date has been set for first flight, "it's imminent, once [we get] 40 or 50 good hours of ground runs," Leder said.

The outdoor test stand in Arlington elevates the aircraft so the nacelles can be lowered fully into airplane mode, according to Leder. Ground runs will include extensive testing of electrical and navigation systems, flight controls, landing gear, pumps, and nacelle movement, as well as leak checks on the aircraft's 3,000 psi hydraulic system.

Because tiltrotors don't require runways but can fly much faster than helicopters, supporters believe they could hold the key to relieving airport congestion (DAILY, April 19).

About one-third the size of the more complex V-22, the BA609 would be the world's first civilian tiltrotor. Cruising at 275 knots with a maximum unrefueled range of 750 nautical miles, the BA609 would carry six to nine passengers.

Bell/Agusta has taken orders for 70 BA609s from more than 40 customers, according to the company. The first batch of customers will use the aircraft for a variety of applications, Leder said, including transportation to offshore oil platforms, corporate transport, emergency medical services for remote areas and regional air carrier operations.

Bell/Agusta plans to begin production of the BA609 around 2005, starting with four prototype tiltrotor aircraft for flight testing. The company expects the aircraft to be certified by the FAA in 2007, with first deliveries to customers immediately following. BA609 customer training would be conducted at Bell/Agusta headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, which also would serve as a delivery center.

Final assembly for production aircraft would take place at Bell's facility in Amarillo, Texas, with another assembly line to be established at the Agusta plant in Italy. Fuji Heavy Industries of Japan is to build the production fuselages for the BA609.

According to American Helicopter Society (AHS) Executive Director Rhett Flater, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz recently sent two memos that bode well for the V-22 and tiltrotor technology in general. One was sent to the Army, he said, asking it to consider tiltrotors as mobility tools for the future Objective Force. The second went to Air Force leadership, asking officials what they could do to expedite the entry of the V-22 into their operations.

"He would have to be pretty satisfied with the aircraft to want to put that information out," Flater said. "That kind of information puts a new light on the 609."

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> The company expects the aircraft to be certified by the FAA in 2007

Don't be too surprised if this doesn't happen. The FAA is having to create new regs to cover this Part-25 (large airplane) plus Part-27 (rotorcraft) machine, and there's a potential showstopper issue...

There's a general rule in FAA design certifications (heck, it may even be written), that states that if a flying machine experiences a total loss of engine power, it shall be controllable, with at least some possibility to safely land it, given suitable terrain. As far as I know, dual engine failure in today’s tiltrotors (TRs) results in a total loss of control.

Military a/c/ are exempt from this FAA requirement, but usually they provide for crew escape, as in the ejection seat (almost always needed when the engine quits in an F16 “lawn dart”). Mil a/c don’t always have crew escape; the V22 (and its mishaps) being an example.

This civil "dead stick" requirement has prevented at least a couple of ducted fan designs from even being allowed to test fly without tethers (and entirely blocked cert, killing further development). It has also resulted in air transports having APUs or ram-air turbines to provide hydraulics and electrical power during total engine failure.

Fixed wing a/c fundamentally meet the dead-stick requirement by gliding. Helicopters meet it also by gliding (auto-rotation), although I understand that the FAA had to make a special exception to helo ops from oil platforms, where for a brief period during takeoff there is neither time nore altitude to setup an autorotation.

The problem for a civil tiltrotor is that current TR designs
can’t glide acceptably, and
can’t auto-rotate at all.
They can’t even glide unacceptably if the engines fail with the wings cranked off the horizontal "airplane" config.

The FAA has already announced that civil TRs must be safely operable on one engine (and both V22 and BA609 [usually] are), but I haven’t seen anything about the total engine failure issue.

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