Rotorcraft
EASA Starts Flight Tests on AW09 Helicopter
The Leonardo subsidiary is aiming to certify the single-engined rotorcraft in 2025
EASA and Kopter test pilots with AW09 helicopter
EASA test pilots have started certification flight tests with Kopter's AW09 single-engined helicopter. © Leonardo

EASA test pilots have started certification flights with the AW09 helicopter being developed by Leonardo’s Swiss subsidiary Kopter. The company is aiming to complete type certification under CS-27 rules in 2025.

Kopter is using a pair of preproduction models, PS4 and PS5, for flight testing and expects to start flying the first production version, PS6, at the end of this year. In September 2022, it retired the earlier PS3 prototype after logging 387 flights on that version of the single-engine helicopter, which is powered by Safran’s 1,000-shp Arriel 2K turboshaft.