Bell/Agusta Aerospace Co.'s BA609 has begun six weeks of crucial systems tests that company officials expect will lead to first flight of the aircraft early next year.

Bell Helicopter Textron Chairman/ CEO John Murphey said the BA609 trials represent a "new benchmark in aviation history." In his view, the aircraft "will revolutionize air transportation." Both engines of the first preproduction BA609 were started on Dec. 6 at Bell's Flight Research Center here, where a majority of the aircraft's test program will be conducted.

About 50 hr. of testing is scheduled for completion before the aircraft can be approved to make its first hover flight. Company officials are confident, however, that the BA609 will fly in either late January or early February, barring any major technical problems with hardware or software.

DURING THE PAST YEAR, progress on the program had been slowed dramatically because of two fatal crashes in 2000 involving the Bell Boeing V-22 military tiltrotor. That aircraft, however, has resumed flying at NAS Patuxent River, Md., and is advancing slowly through an exhaustive flight test program (AW&ST Dec. 2, p. 33). As BAAC officials are quick to point out, the BA609 is a different aircraft than the V-22 and is designed to commercial, not military, regulations and requirements and will be subject to a different set of certification standards. How rapidly the BA609 program progresses, however, is tied to continued success of the MV-22 for the U.S. Marine Corps.

"Overall, the outcome was very positive, and we look forward to further testing of the BA609," said Jack Gallagher, director of the BA609 program for Bell/ Agusta Aerospace Co. For the initial runs, the BA609 was secured on a rotor test stand platform previously used to test dynamic rotor components for the Bell Boeing V-22 military tiltrotor during the late 1990s.