The Wrong George?

A Bell Helicopter employee has send me a brilliant comeback on my series of posts that elected his employer the "George Costanza" of the defense industry.

THE WRONG GEORGE?

Sorry Stephen, I never found the time or desire to watch "Seinfeld".  I am an avid fan however of old Jimmy Stewart movies.  I especially like
Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life".    You must have seen this classic
movie about a man named "George Bailey". The Jimmy Stewart character George Bailey is a small business man that struggles against larger and more powerful companies in a valiant if sometimes unsuccessful effort to improve humanity.  Only after decades of personal sacrifices, often placing his business at the brink of financial ruin does George and his entire community fully recognize the wonderful and spectacular accomplishments his business achieved.

Yes, for the past 25 years Eurocopter and Sikorsky have profited well by improving their products at a snails pace (still using metal airframes?, mechanical flight controls?) while Bell invested heavily in both military and commercial Tiltrotor technology.

For George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life" Christmas Eve marked the turning point of all his life?s sacrifices.  For Bell, with the successful Iraq deployment of the V-22 Osprey and the upcoming FAA certification of the BA609 commercial Tiltrotor, Christmas bells may soon be ringing.

Have fun,

CTR

First fly-by-wire commercial rotorcraft: Bell Agusta BA609

First commercial rotorcraft with composite fuselage: Bell Agusta BA609

First pressurized fuselage rotorcraft: Bell Agusta BA609

First rotorcraft with fully triplex flight control system meeting FAA reliability requirements for commercial fixed wing aircraft: Bell Agusta BA609

World?s fastest commercial rotorcraft (over 280 kts): Bell Agusta
BA609