Like the old blues song goes, “It’s been a long time coming. But a change is gonna come.” That change–the possible revolution that is the promise of civil tiltrotor flight– took to the air on March 7 with the first flight of Bell/Agusta Aerospace’s BA609 tiltrotor prototype.
As with most rotorcraft first flights, the test card was deliberately kept modest. The BA609 hovered at an altitude of 50 feet, performed left and right pedal turns, both forward and aft flight maneuvers, four takeoffs and landings, nacelle position changes and stability testing for 36 minutes before setting down. The tiltrotor’s retractable tricycle landing gear was not retracted and won’t be until the successful conclusion of the first 10-hour block of test time. Conversion to fixed-wing mode is due by the end of the year. The first flight follows seven weeks of ground runs and taxi testing conducted at Bell’s Flight Research Center in Arlington, Texas.
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