Leonardo Helicopters has finally flown the Next Generation Civil Tiltrotor (NGCTR), a technology demonstrator developed as part of an EU Clean Sky 2-funded project.
Taking place at the airframer’s Cascina Costa site near Milan in northern Italy, the brief hovering sortie on 19 December, flown by test pilot Gianfranco Cito, was designed to assess system functionality and stability.
During subsequent flights new tiltrotor’s envelope will be progressively opened, it says.
Boasting a cruise speed of 280kt (520km/h) and a range of around 1,000nm (1,850km), the NGCTR builds on Leonardo’s AW609 tiltrotor, a programme still wending its way through the certification process.
Indeed, the demonstrator uses a donated AW609 fuselage as its base, alongside twin GE Aerospace CT7 engines, but adds five key technologies:
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an advanced wing architecture, featuring morphing surfaces and a state-of-the-art composite construction
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a thermoplastic V-tail to improve handling, cut drag and reduce interference from the wing
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a non-tilting engine installation with a high-efficiency nacelle architecture
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a split-gearbox drivetrain
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an advanced, modular, distributed and scalable Flight Control System (FCS) that cuts weight and complexity.
Maturation of the technologies being tested could allow Leonardo to launch a new tiltrotor programme for service entry in the 2030s.
The Leonardo-led consortium behind the NGCTR includes 11 entities from multiple European countries, plus the UK.
Gian Piero Cutillo, Managing Director of Leonardo Helicopters, stated: “Building on our established expertise in the tiltrotor domain, bringing this technology demonstrator to the air for the first time sets a major milestone on our path to provide a key contribution towards an even more advanced, effective and sustainable use of rotorcraft technologies in Europe.”
Launched in 2015, first flight of the NGCTR had originally been planned for 2020.
