Rotorcraft
Bell V-280 Valor Tiltrotor Reaches 280 Knots
Bell V-280 hit target maximum speed after 13 months of flight testing.
Bell's tiltrotor V-280 Valor hit 280 knots airspeed on January 23, 2019. The machine is the company's entry in the Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator Program. (Photo: Bell)
Bell's tiltrotor V-280 Valor hit 280 knots airspeed on January 23, 2019. The machine is the company's entry in the Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator Program. (Photo: Bell)

Bell's V-280 Valor tiltrotor achieved 280 ktas in forward flight on Wednesday at the company's Arlington, Texas Flight Research Center. Other milestones achieved by the V-280 during its first 13 months of in-air testing include 85 flight hours and 180 rotor turn hours, in-flight transitions between cruise mode and vertical takeoff and landing, 45-degree banked turns at 200 knots indicated airspeed, 4,500 feet-per-minute rate of climb sustained at an altitude of 11,500 feet, a single ferry flight of 370 miles, and demonstrated low- and high-speed agility with fly-by-wire controls.