The history of aviation has seen many technologies developed and matured by the military prior to their introduction into commercial service such as jet propulsion, fly-by-wire flight controls and composite primary structures. Today tiltrotor technology follows a similar path, having been successfully demonstrated by the military for over 10 years in the Bell Boeing V-22, the Leonardo Helicopters AW609 is on the verge of civil certification for commercial use.
As the speed, range, and VTOL capability of the V-22 tiltrotor has revolutionized military missions like combat search and rescue, medical evacuation, and long-range ship to shore transportation, so too will the AW609 in commercial SAR, EMS, and offshore oil and gas transportation.
The AW609’s use in civil operations will enable true point to point travel and help reduce congestion at busy airports.
As the technology and operational regulations are on the horizon1, some questions, remarks or concerns may arise within the Air Traffic Management (ATM) community on how to integrate tiltrotor activities into usual aircraft management and on how to interact with tiltrotor flights. This joint document between Leonardo Helicopters and the Italian Air Traffic Controllers Association ANACNA aims to provide answers to these points.