The first manned tiltrotor aircraft from China that appears identical to the Italian Leonardo AW609 in terms of size has been spotted performing flight tests.
The new tiltrotor from China appears to be similar to the AW609 tiltrotor from Leonardo in terms of both size and configuration, rather than the U.S.-made V-22 and V-280. However, only the rotors rotate up or down, like with V-280, whereas other tiltrotors rotate the engines and rotors together.
Considering the similarities with AW609 in both layout and size, the aircraft likely has an MTOW close to eight tonnes with engines rated for 2000 hp each.
It is unknown if the tiltrotor is being considered for civilian service like its Italian counterpart or if military use is included.
While this is the first manned tiltrotor test from China, an unmanned tiltrotor named R6000 was previously tested.
Tiltrotor aircraft combine the VTOL capabilities of helicopters with high speed at forward flight through tilting rotors. Most tiltrotors can cruise at speeds near 500 km/h. However, compared to a conventional helicopter, tiltrotor aircraft are less efficient at hover and are somewhat less survivable due to the configuration itself guaranteeing an emergency landing or crash in the event of a single engine failure. Thus, it has taken considerable time to introduce tiltrotors to civilian use despite the decades of service in the military branch.
Author: Kaan Azman
Editor:Özgür Ekşi
