Prototype Tiltrotor UAV Crashed April 5

Bell Helicopter may be going back to the drawing board, but it isn’t giving up on its quest to develop unmanned aircraft systems.

On April 5, Bell lost the only prototype of its TR-918 Eagle Eye tiltrotor UAV in a test flight crash. All had been going well during the flight when the Eagle Eye, flying at about 300 feet above the ground, suddenly lost power. Investigators said an unknown glitch caused the fuel supply to be cut to the aircraft's engine.

Despite the setback, however, Bell's executive director of vertical unmanned aircraft programs, Bob Ellithorpe, says the company is pressing on with its UAV plans. He told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Bell plans to build another version of the Eagle Eye to continue the testing and development, but not until the crash investigation is complete so that improvements can be incorporated.

"We have high confidence in the flight-control systems," said Ellithorpe, "and we have high confidence in the data link."

Bell launched the Eagle Eye program several years ago, after an order from the US Coast Guard. The Coast Guard funded development of one version of the UAV, the TR-916 (below), which would be equipped with surveillance systems for operation from ships at sea.

Due to the cost of re-equipping its entire fleet of cutters and patrol aircraft, however, the Coast Guard has since delayed funding for the Eagle Eye -- but Bell launched its own effort, aimed at producing a less complex version of the UAV, the TR-918, that could be sold to the US military or law enforcement agencies.

Ellithorpe says that the Eagle Eye will fly again... but not before Bell learns its lessons from the accident so improvements can be made.

"What did we learn in flight test? What did we learn in the mishap? Those will go into the calculation of what comes next," Ellithorpe said.

And as far as Bell's UAV plans after the Eagle Eye? Well, Bell makes helicopters, after all... and Ellithorpe says they're not overlooking the opportunity to develop an unmanned helicopter.

FMI: www.bellhelicopter.com