AW609 Civil Tiltrotor: New Type, New Rules, New Missions

And there are bigger issues. It still needs to get the aircraft type and production certified, and it needs to establish a strong buying case for potential customers, of which Leonardo only names one, Bristow, which will someday take the first two production 609s as part of a sweetheart deal to put the new craft through its paces in several mission profiles. 

But is there really a need for, or a market for, a civil tiltrotor? Some believe it's a great idea; others think it a terrible one. Or it might be both. On the one hand, at better than 250 knots cruise in airplane mode at 25,000 feet, the 11-passenger, pressurized 609 is as fast as a good twin turboprop, but it can also land and take off vertically. The appeal of this is immense. By being deposited right on their destination's doorstep, instead of a half-hour's drive away, travelers can get work done and get back to the home office in many fewer hours for some missions.

On the other hand, will the kinds of high-income folks who can afford such an aircraft be willing to embrace the risks of a new mode of transportation? It's true that tiltrotor technology is less a mystery today than it was 25 years ago, thanks to two-plus decades of V-22 experience, but there still has got to be higher risk than turboprop twins, like the Beechcraft King Air, with its many millions of hours against which the 609 will compete. Will the big-check writers think it's a safe bet, in more than both meanings of the word "safe?"  

Some argue that the emergence of a new type of aircraft, electric-powered e-VTOLs, might threaten future sales of the AW609, but it's unlikely. The Leonardo tiltrotor can fly at 250 knots in the flight levels for hundreds of miles in pressurized comfort. Electric-powered VTOLs can only dream of such capabilities.  

The asking price of the 609 has increased substantially since the late '90s, when Bell and Boeing started talking publicly about such practicalities. Early on, they were talking $10 million, but that was so last century. Today, that price has ballooned into more realistic territory, between $20 million and $30 million. For starters, one could buy a small fleet of brand-new King Air 360s for that price. 

Topping that off, the 609 is not yet type certified, though at least today, there are certification standards for tiltrotor aircraft, which wasn't true when the project launched during the Clinton years. 

How likely is it we'll get to see 609s flying around in five years? Or seven or 10? I wouldn't put my money on it, though Leonardo has surely sunk hundreds of millions of its dough into its acquisition and development, so it is anxious to get its tiltrotor in the hands of customers, and there  are no unachievable development or certification roadblocks that would prevent it from doing just that.