Two Hours 18 Minutes From U.K. To Italy

The AW609 TiltRotor recently set a speed record on a 1000 km (540 nautical mile) ‘point-to-point’ journey. The aircraft, with its combination of the turboprop airplane’s speed and helicopter’s take-off and landing capabilities, flew from its Yeovil facility in southwest England to its Cascina Costa facility near Milan, Italy, a distance of 627 nm, in 2 hours 18 minutes.

The AW609 TiltRotor features technology which will revolutionize commercial aviation transport: the record set in flight between Southern UK and Northern Italy clearly demonstrates the unprecedented advantages of the tiltrotor concept for point-to-point journeys. The AW609 will be able to connect two important cities, such as London and Milan, in about two hours, taking off and landing vertically from the cities’ urban areas just like a helicopter, flying at the cruise speed of a turboprop airplane in all weather conditions.

Combining fixed-wing and rotary-wing flight attributes, the AW609 provides at least 30% to 50% time savings when compared to using a combination of car, helicopter and business jet, typically for travel to destinations up to 700 miles away.

The flight started with a vertical take-off from Yeovil. The aircraft then climbed to its en route cruising altitude of 25,000 ft. The route of flight took the aircraft north of Southampton, just south of Paris, over the Alps and Piemonte in Italy, before descending and landing at Cascina Costa near Milan just 2 hours 18 minutes later.

The AW609 TiltRotor is expected to be certified by the FAA  in 2017 with deliveries scheduled to start soon after.

(Image provided by AgustaWestland)

FMI: www.agustawestland.com