Stating that “the V-22 must lead tiltrotor technology into the marketplace,” Bell Helicopter has opted to shelve its BA609 civil tiltrotor following first flight of a prototype later this year, indefinitely delaying introduction of the world’s first production-oriented civil tiltrotor until problems with the U.S. Marines’ V-22 Osprey tiltrotor transport can be ironed out.
Bell’s decision, delivered as a statement from company president John Murphey, came in the wake of reports throughout the trade and general media that maintained Bell was poised to kill the program outright. In his statement, Murphey said Bell had always intended the BA609 to follow the V-22 into production and operational service. However, that schedule was rendered meaningless when a pair of fatal crashes that killed 23 Marines in 2000 led to questions about the mechanical reliability of the design, as well as charges of official wrongdoing within the Marines. Present plans call for the V-22 to resume flight tests “in the next couple of months,” as Murphey put it, citing that “the [V-22] accidents and resulting test requirements have delayed full-scale production for several years.”
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