The fatal crash of the second Leonardo Helicopters (formerly AgustaWestland) civil tiltrotor prototype (AC2), N609AG, on Oct. 30, 2015 at Tronzano Vercellese, Italy, is ascribable basically to the “combination of three factors”: the development of latero-directional oscillations; the inability of the fly-by-wire flight control system (FCS) control laws to maintain controlled flight; and the failure of the engineering flight simulator (SIMRX) to “foresee the event in any way,” according to the final report from Italy's National Agency for Flight Safety (ANSV—Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurrezza del Volo). The accident aircraft had accumulated 567 hours since first flying in 2006. It took off from the company's production facility at Cascina Costa and crashed at 10:42 a.m. local time while executing a third planned high-speed descent as part of test flight T664. During the descent the aircraft entered uncontrolled flight in a series of lateral-directional oscillations, broke up and caught fire in flight before striking the ground, killing both test pilots.
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