Pilots from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have flown the Leonardo AW609 tiltrotor for the first time. The flights took place on March 16 and 17 in Cascina Costa di Samarate, Italy, and were part of the first round of EASA’s familiarization activities for the AW609 certification program.
The event followed the completion of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) pre-Type Inspection Authorization flight test activities, which were wrapped up on Feb. 22.
Leonardo said the EASA flight was another key milestone for the AW609 program, representing “an important step forward in the final stages of the certification process.” It added that the flight enables the AW609 program to “keep the right pace on the validation process,” together with the FAA certification path — which will be the first certification achieved for the long-awaited tiltrotor.
