Bell Helicopter plans to transition the Bell/Agusta BA609 civil tiltrotor to aircraft mode for the first time today as flight tests continue at Bell’s research and development center in Arlington, Texas, after a two-year hiatus. In aircraft mode, the BA609 is expected to cruise at 300 mph, making it the world’s fastest civil vertical lift aircraft. The pause in the program was in part due to the drain on engineering resources required to support the military V-22 tiltrotor program. The six- to nine-passenger BA609 returned to flight status on June 3 with a 1.3-hour test flight that included hover mode and low-speed forward flight (86 kts) with the rotors at a 75-degree forward tilt.
