24TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE AERONAUTICAL SCIENCES

PERSPECTIVES OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OF

VERTICAL FLIGHT
The Point Of View Of Industry
Amedeo Caporaletti
CEO of AgustaWestland and President of AGUSTA S.p.A.

Keywords: Helicopter, Tiltrotor, AB139, BA609, Future

Abstract The advanced technologies are playing a

fundamental role in the achievement of the
In the airspace future, the vertical flight
above mentioned goals, such as the
will have a greater importance than today, both
aerodynamics, dynamics, structures, avionics
in the civil and military applications and, as
and simulation.
recently dramatically appeared, in the
Yet the industry is called to transfer
increasing demand of security.
technologies assets into products which must
In spite of 50 years of experience and
satisfy the ever demanding market while must
technological development, the conventional
abide industrial and financial constraints i.e.
vehicle for the vertical flight, the helicopter, is
affected by constraints and operational integrating the technology into the business
strategy thus creating value from the technology
limitations, which have confined its utilisation
and innovation.
to the applications where it is irreplaceable.
It comes from the above the need of an
However its productivity is always lower than
the fixed wing and this have hampered its optimisation of all the concerned parameters
(the competitive performance diamond) and, in
diffusion as a general air transport mean.
the most challenging projects, the participation
The technologies today available allow to
to a collaboration with other industries
widen the spectrum of utilisation in a significant
(collaboration network diamond).
way by pursuing two architectural solutions:
Last year, in this Forum, Prof. Price, at the
 the evolution of the conventional
conclusion of his speech, presented a table titled
rotorcraft
“Suggested long range VTOL Technology
 the revolution of the tiltrotor
Goals” in which the 2022 targets were outlined.
to meet primarily either the vertical flight
AGUSTA, in covering both configurations
and hovering or the cruise flight with enhanced
of the vertical flight (helicopter and tiltrotor),
speed and range.
has respectively developed a new medium twin
The goals the rotorcraft industry is aiming
engine helicopter, the AB139, already in the
to, can be summarised as follows:
delivery phase, and is developing together with
 Improvement of flight performances Bell the BA609 tiltrotor.
and ability to operate in all weather The breakthroughs in the performances
conditions and the operating costs of the AB139 in
 Reduction of the operating costs and comparison with the current helicopters, are
enhancement of the availability such to project this product already towards the
 Environmental and public acceptance 2022 targets stated by Prof. Price.
 Awareness by the institutional bodies The BA609 is well progressing on schedule
of the need of adequate operating towards the certification targets demonstrating
procedures and the related the predicted performances in the flight test
infrastructures. activities.

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 Amedeo Caporaletti

AGUSTA has already entered the future  Limited ability to operate in IFR
envisioned by Prof. Price. conditions outside ATC regulated air
traffic (airways)
 Environmental impact (noise and
1. The Roles of the Vertical Flight pollution), amplified by the growing
Since its first operational uses in the fifties, ecological concerns within the general
the helicopter has earned a growing reputation public
of invaluable workhorse for civil and military  Perception of lower safety with respect
applications. Its unique ability to take off and to fixed wing aircraft due to:
land vertically and to hover indefinitely over a
fixed point is the key of peculiar operations, o Vibration
such as offshore, search and rescue, just to name o Noise
two, which would be impossible or extremely o Comfort
difficult to perform with other means.
At present, it is reasonable to think that this  Inadequacy of procedures and rules for
ability will still be not only indispensable but simultaneous, non interfering take off
also growing in the future for uses such as: and landing operations of helicopters in
 Flexible and customised transport of the airport terminal area.
people and material
 Point to point in flight connection
(corporate, VIP transport…) 3. The two solutions
 Offshore role for the oil operation Industries and research centers spent large
 Integration with/substitution of efforts in order to overcome the barriers
commuters for short range transport in illustrated before and two different avenues
order to increase airport capacity have been identified (Fig. 1). The first one is to
 Rescue at sea or in impervious areas push the advanced technologies to improve the
(mountains, forests) and disaster relief conventional helicopter. The modern
(earthquakes, fires, floods) technologies in terms of aerodynamics,
 Military air mobility, both for dynamics, avionics, simulation and structures,
battlefield support and in peace can improve the actual status of the helicopter
keeping or in peace enforcing tasks configuration increasing its performance,
 Helicopter use in all cases related with productivity and environmental impact. But not
the new arising tasks of the security all the limitations can be overcome, because
front (border control, sea patrolling). some of them are inherent in the helicopter
configuration (low speed and consequently low
productivity as compared with the turboprop).
2. Limitations of the helicopter For this reason the most viable solution among
Notwithstanding its unquestionable the many attempts, resulted to be the
operational utility, the inherent physical TILTROTOR.
limitations and mechanical complexity of the Conceived in the US, the tiltrotor is now
helicopter, worsened by the peculiar operational mature enough to open a new perspective in the
flight envelope (mostly low altitude) have aviation. After a development phase lasted 50
indeed limited its widespread diffusion. years, this innovative aircraft is ready to give a
new drive to the aeronautical growth, opening
The main reasons can be summarised in the new opportunities and creating space for new
following points: roles allowed only by the potentialities of its
 Low productivity mainly due to low formula.
speed and high operating costs
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 PERSPECTIVES OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OF VERTICAL FLIGHT
The Point Of View Of Industry

departure operations. In order to reach

PERSPECTIVE OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENT this goal the need of new air traffic
OF VERTICAL FLIGHT procedure is evident for the VTOL
aircraft in conjunction with those of the
Helicopter Evolution Breakthrough Technologies fixed wing.
All Weather TILTROTOR
5. Advanced Technology Solutions
More performing BA609
Quieter
Safer Higher productivity
More comfortable
Low pollution The advanced technology solutions play an
Speed important role to achieve the above goals since
Hovering Range the challenge of the technology community is to
Cruise
attack the barriers and enhance the VTOL
Fig. 1: the two guiding solutions configuration in order to give to air transport
system a more efficient and performing aircraft.
Some aspects of the challenges of the new
technologies are outlined here below.
4. Industry Goals
The implementation of the two solutions
should be guided by the identification of the
features that enhance the roles outlined above.

These could be summarised as follows:

 Costs: a lower cost per seat mile to be

achieved by a reduction in the
acquisition and life cycle cost and
improved availability

Fig. 2: aerodynamic technology
Performance: tomorrow’s VTOL
aircraft need improvements in payload,
range and endurance. The ability to
operate in all kinds of weather should
be one of the most important 5.1 Aerodynamics
achievement in the next future
 Community acceptance: public The aerodynamic design (Fig. 2) should
acceptance of helicopters can focus the attention to increase the rotor
undoubtedly be improved by reducing efficiency both in hover and in forward flight,
the level of noise and vibration and allowing in this way higher payload and
increasing comfort productivity, and low fuel consumption with a

beneficial effect in the environment. The
Infrastructures and air traffic
increase in the simulation capability through full
procedures: Industry shall urge an
Navier-Stokes codes should permit a more
higher awareness by the Regulatory
significant noise reduction, the study of the
Bodies to introduce sky pathways that
blade vortex interaction (BVI), a new blade
can accommodate tomorrow’s VTOL
optimisation for noise and performance together
airtraffic. The purpose should be to
with a more detailed study concerning the
eliminate congestion in the airport and
rotor/fuselage interaction.
bring efficiency to arrival and

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 Amedeo Caporaletti

vibration reduction are the more promising

ones, while, in the second case, the active flap
rotor using smart materials, active twist rotor
and smart active blade tip are the most
improved. Dynamics is developing also a
vibration monitoring system screening
vibrations in the rotors, engines, interconnect
shaft and nacelles, while stability enhancement
is at moment more related with the new
Fig. 3: wind tunnel tests configurations like tilt rotors especially with the
whirl flutter phenomenon.
Also the evolution in the wind tunnel
measurements (Fig. 3) will permit the study of
complex phenomenon like active flow control,
active fiber composite for the optimisation of
the twist blade as function of the speed and the
study of the interaction phenomena in new
configurations like tiltrotors.

Fig. 5: structural technology

5.3 Structures
The challenge for the structures should be
to pass from a traditional metallic structure to a
Fig. 4: Dynamic technology more recent composite solution making at the
(AB139 ground resonance study) same time compliance with the new stringent
requirements in terms of crashworthiness (Fig.
5.2 Dynamics
5), bird strike and engine disk burst impact.
Beside that the introduction of the damage
Concerning dynamics, current technologies tolerance, borrowed from the fixed wing world,
are involved in the development of active rotor for the fatigue evaluation of structures and
control for reduction of rotor/fuselage vibration dynamic components will allow a favorable
and noise, in the enhancement of the total weight reduction of the aircraft.
experimental test methodologies for aeroelastic
characterisation of rotor systems and in the
development of new analytical methodologies 5.4 Simulation
(Fig. 4) for prediction of aeroelastic stability
and loads. At moment, dynamics is focused both The main research activities in the
in the passive and active ways for vibration simulation field are focused to the development
reduction. In the first case the use of pylon and validation of flight mechanics codes and
vibration isolation system or inertia helicopter handling qualities evaluation and
characteristics distribution optimised to have improvements. The development and use of
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 PERSPECTIVES OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OF VERTICAL FLIGHT
The Point Of View Of Industry

flight simulators (Fig. 6), with pilot and

hardware in the loop, should help in the
definition of advanced control laws, of
automatic emergency manoeuvres and loads
reduction.

Fig. 7: avionic technology

(AB139 cockpit layout)

6. From technologies to product: market

needs and collaboration network
Fig. 6: simulation facility The industry is called to transfer
technologies assets into products which must
satisfy the ever demanding market while must
abide industrial and financial constraints i.e.
5.5 Avionics integrating technology into business strategy
thus creating value from technology and
The research on man-machine interface in innovation.
the cockpit (Fig. 7) is one of the most promising The concept of the merge of the technology
area for future development. It focuses on with the market need and the network
integrating advanced information display collaboration is illustrated in the following slide
systems into the cockpit, investigating pilot- (Fig. 8).
vehicle interaction. The primary goal is to
extend aircraft operational capability by
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

reducing pilot workload and increasing pilot

Aerodynamics
situation awareness. This goal is more important
TS
EN
Collaboration Net

than ever, as pilots are required today to carry

Dynamics M
RE
Available
resources

out more complex mission-oriented tasks in I

QU
and

RE
addition to the standard tasks for piloting and Strctures
navigation. Current investigations include the
application of Helmet-Mounted-Display, direct Simulation

Voice Input, tactile control feedback and the use Avionics

of the fixed wing side stick. All these new
features, included the introduction of the MARKET
differential GPS and the mission computer with
three-dimensional flight plans and terrain
obstacle database, should contribute to an all Fig. 8: Technology into business strategy
weather helicopter that should be the target for
the next years in order to improve safety and
avoid any delay performing the mission Industry should apply new technology in
required by the integrated system. their products integrating technology and

5
 Amedeo Caporaletti

business strategy to create new value from

innovation. This integration must be done with a
trade off optimisation between resources and
market demand, bringing to the competitive
performance diamond (Fig. 9).

The operating cost should be the core of

the process imposing the requirements in terms
of higher speeds, range, cabin size, useful load,
avionics, comfort and hot and high performance
in order to answer to the civil and military
market in the various application to be met by
the various class of helicopters.

Fig. 10: the collaboration networks

CIVIL

Medical
Search & Service Examples of these collaborations (Fig. 10)
VIP
Rescue are the AB139 and BA609 with Bell Textron
Law Speed
Company, the NH90 European team, the EH101
Enforcement Range Border partnership with Westland and the present
Hot &
Patrol
High Operating alliance with Lockheed Martin and Bell
Comfort Costs Cabin Helicopter for the US101. This last joint effort
Size
Light Useful
aims to deliver a dependable, reliable, combat
IFR
Utility Load Training ready medium lift helicopter that will
incorporate additional U.S. technologies,
Naval
Scout Operation mission systems, manufacturing and integration
expertise, while maintaining the core of
MILITARY
AgustaWestland’s mature design to provide the
U.S. military with a reliable, advanced
Fig. 9: the competitive performance diamond technology, off-the-shelf aircraft.

As an example, the Fig. 9 features the

optimized performance diamond for a light twin
helicopter such as the Agusta A109 which is the
best seller in its class.

In view of the complexity and the effort

required by new state of the art products, the
performance trade-off shall be associated to an
optimized industrial and financial resources
application.
In order to face this challenge, a Fig. 11: Agusta R&D collaborations in
collaboration networks must be sought, were Europe
different involved parameters must be duly
exploited. The core target of any significant
Continuing with the collaborations, the
collaborative program should aim to preserve to
AGUSTA effort is also evident in the research
industry a leading or at least a primary role.
projects (Fig. 11). AGUSTA is involved in
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 PERSPECTIVES OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OF VERTICAL FLIGHT
The Point Of View Of Industry

different European collaborations endorsed by Dayton, Prof. George Price [1] presented a table
the European Community: from the study of with the “Long Range VTOL Technology
new tools for the analysis of composite Goals” in which the current level and the 2022
structures (POSICOSS and COCOMAT), to the target was shown (Fig. 13). AGUSTA is
FRIENDCOPTER project having the goal of the progressing towards these targets. Therefore let
enhanced environmental friendliness and public me say that “at AGUSTA the future has begun”.
acceptance of the helicopter through a drastic
reduction of external noise emission, by With the last two aircraft born from the
reducing gas exhaust and by a strong decrease AGUSTA collaboration with Bell Textron, the
of cabin noise and vibration levels. Optimised AB139 and BA609, AGUSTA is running the
Procedures for Approach and Landing are two avenues of the future of the vertical flight: a
studied in OPTIMAL with the purpose of new medium twin engine helicopter which
defining and validating innovative procedures features a significant performance improvement
for the approach and landing phases of aircraft over the current helicopters, the AB139, and the
and rotorcraft. The goal is to minimise external first medium tiltrotor, the BA609. We have
aircraft / rotorcraft noise nuisance and increase overcome the “current level” in many aspects:
the ATM capacity while maintaining and even from hover and cruise efficiency to the cruise
improving operability. speed and the all weather capability, but, most
important, these two machines are the result of
the integration of the modern technologies,
highlighted above, with the market needs.

SUGGESTED LONG RANGE VTOL TECHNOLOGY GOALS

ATTRIBUTE CURRENT LEVEL AGUSTA Today 2022 TARGET

Hover = 0.78 0.8 0.87

10
Vehicle Efficiency L/D*Prop. Eff. = 7 at
13 at Vcruise
Vcruise

0.55
EW fraction = .55
30 % reduction
(helo) - .62 (T/R)

Helicopter = 170 Kts 180 Kts 200 Kts

Cruise speed
Tiltrotor = 250 Kts 275 Kts 350-400 Kts

Fig. 12: the ERICA concept External Noise FAA requirements -3 dB below req. 60% reduction

Vibration .04 g .04 g < .04 g maximum

But the most important projects in which
Pilot fully involved
AGUSTA is involved are those concerning Intelligent automation &
Cockpit Integration
Pilot aiding
in the machine
Operator "directs"
vehicle
Tiltrotor technology around the European
Tiltrotor Configuration: ERICA (Fig. 12), an IFR capable IFR Single pilot
Fully autonomous
zero-zero
AGUSTA patent. These projects deal with areas All-Weather Capability
Limited Icing FULL ICING No restrictions due to
like aerodynamics, dynamics, acoustics, drive capability (EH101) icing

systems and rotors, trying to cover all the

challenging aspects of this new promising
aircraft. Fig. 13: the technology goals

7. The Agusta state of the art: the future has

In order to provide evidence of this
begun
statement, a brief description of the two aircraft
is presented.
During the AIAA/ICAS International Air
and Space Symposium and Exposition 2003 in

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 Amedeo Caporaletti

7.1 AB139 The fuel tanks, instead of being positioned

The AB139 (Fig. 14) is the new medium on the bottom of the aircraft underneath the
passengers, are wrapped around the baggage
twin–engine helicopter designed to meet the
compartment behind the main cabin (Fig. 15).
stringent standards imposed by the new civil
This configuration features a number of
and military requirements. An optimised
outstanding advantages such as:
collaboration network has been achieved

through an international collaborative program
launched by Agusta to which Bell Helicopter Better lift/drag ratio due to the smaller
associated with a risk-sharing participation of, cross section
among others, Pratt & Whitney, Honeywell,  Better crashworthiness characteristic
GKN Westland Aerospace. due to the empty sub floor
 Simple, light weight and crashworthy
fuel tank solution
 Passenger cabin floor low over the
ground for easy loading and unloading

The high comfort achieved is also

associated with the low acoustic and vibration
level due to mass lay out and to the
aerodynamic design of the blades.
The tail rotor is canted. This allows a
shorter tail rotor mast, since the rotor inclination
already guarantees the necessary clearance
Fig. 14: the new medium twin–engine between the blades and the fin, and advantages
helicopter AB139 in term of weight and structural loads.
Built with the state-of-the-art component Furthermore, the canted tail rotor gives a
based on proven technologies, the AB139 is a sensible benefit in performance both in hover
12/15 seats multipurpose helicopter, designed and forward flight.
around a spacious cabin and baggage Concerning the avionics system , the
compartment for maximum flexibility and AB139 basic configuration has the Primus
passenger comfort. EpicTM Avionics System developed by
The primary structure is made of aluminum Honeywell, a fully integrated “glass cockpit”
alloy and nomex/aluminum panels, and, for based on LCD display technology and on
weight savings, fiber composite material are modular avionics concept (Fig. 16).
used for the secondary structure.

Fig. 15: AB139 fuel tank position Fig. 16: AB139 MFD Layout (Digital Map)
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 PERSPECTIVES OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OF VERTICAL FLIGHT
The Point Of View Of Industry

The Electronic Display System (EDS)

carries out the dual function of presenting flight
and navigation data, engines and system PRODUCTIVITY INDEX
parameters and the related caution, warning and of Medium Twin Engine Helicopters
advisory annunciation. Pilots can choose
6.58
traditional controllers or new on-screen cursor 7.00
control devices, developed to interface with the
Windows-style operating system. It will offer a 6.00
voice command system to control certain
functions, and compact, portable Pilot’s 5.00 4 .07

Productivity Index
Personal Assistant for flight planning and
4.00
information retrieval en route, at home or in the
office.
3.00

In the following pictures (Fig. 17-Fig. 18) 2.00

two performance, hoge comparison and
productivity index PI = f(speed, range, payload), 1.00

are illustrated to proof the high possibility of

this new helicopter able to merge the high 0.00
Present AB139
technology aspects with the market Helicopters
requirements.

Fig. 18: AB139 productivity index

HOGE AEO Comparison
1.4
The Primus EpicTM system provides, also,
1.19 an integrated maintenance system, consisting in
1.2
a Central Maintenance Computer (CMC).
1 Specifically it monitors and record aircraft
System Failures (engines, transmission,
HOGE index

0.82
0.8 hydraulic, electrics, airframe, etc.) engine
exceedances time engine low cycle fatigue
0.6
(LCF) and avionics failures. The system can be
integrated and completed with the installation of
0.4
an HUMS system further enhancing the system
capability.
0.2
Concerning the maintainability the values
0
achieved in the AB139 are significantly better
Present AB139 than in the previous helicopters as shown in the
Helicopters
following picture (Fig. 19) that considers the
impact of both scheduled and unscheduled
maintenance with the consequent benefit of a
Fig. 17: AB139 hover performance reduction in the operative costs.

9
 Amedeo Caporaletti

Maintenaice Man-Hours per flight hours

(MMH/FH)
2.5

Aeroambulance

Training
2
Unscheduled Maintenance (MMH/FH)

Offshore Resources
Development
Present H/C
1.5

AB139
1 Search and Rescue VIP / Corporate

Fig. 21: BA609 missions

0.5

The Bell-Agusta BA609 provides greatly

0 improved operational performance capabilities
0 0.5 1 1.5
Scheduled Maintenance (MMH/FH)
when compared with conventional rotorcraft
(Fig. 22): twice the speed and range, with
improved passenger comfort and cost
Fig. 19: AB139 Maintenance chart effectiveness. Designed from the outset for low
maintenance and maximum operational
flexibility, the medium tiltrotor offers operators
7.2 BA609 highly cost-effective, point-to-point
transportation at cruise speeds up to 275 Kts and
The BA609 (Fig. 20) is the first medium
ranges up to 750 nautical miles.
tiltrotor.

• 40,000

• Business
• 30,000 • Turboprop
• Altitude (Ft)

• BA609
• 20,000

• Helicopter
• 10,000

• 0
• 0 • 50 • 100 • 150 • 200 • 250 • 300 • 350
• Cruise Speed (Knots)

Fig. 20: the tiltrotor BA609 Fig. 22: BA609 flight envelope

It is a highly flexible, nine passenger It makes use of all the developments in

aircraft designed for natural resource aerospace technologies, from large use of
exploration, emergency medical evacuation, composites materials to last generation glass
search and rescue, executive transportation, cockpit. Moreover, for some technological
governmental support roles and disaster relief aspects, the BA609 is a unique example. The
(Fig. 21). nacelle tilting system (Fig. 23), which must
satisfy severe safety requirements prescribed by
civil regulations, is an example.

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 PERSPECTIVES OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OF VERTICAL FLIGHT
The Point Of View Of Industry

The actuators, which provide the nacelle fiberglass with carbon fiber torsion wraps, while
motion, are mounted on spindles located in the the afterbody is made of Nomex core with
wingtips and each consists in a double fiberglass skins. A constant velocity joint in the
telescoping ballscrew that is driven through a hub cancels the 2/rev loads that are created
planetary differential gearbox by either a when the rotor flaps. The centrifugal force
primary hydraulic drive unit or a backup one. bearings, the drive links, and the hub flapping
An interconnecting shaft runs through the wing springs are all elestomeric components. A
leading edge and provides another drive path to slipring assembly is mounted on the top of the
the actuator. The system has five angular rotor mast to permit the transfer of electrical
displacement transducer on each side of the power and icing control signals to the rotating
aircraft that provide nacelle position information blade system.
and allow any mechanical failure to be
identified and isolated. The hydraulic power to
drive the actuator can be supplied by any of the
three independent hydraulic systems moreover
there are three independent flight control
computers controlling the actuators.

Airplane Position

Interconnect
Drive Train Fig. 24: BA609 rotor system
PCA converts Nacelle position down to Concerning the drive system (Fig. 25), its
0 degrees for airplane mode operations
innovation is the interconnect shafting system
Helicopter Position able to drive both proprotors in the case of a
single engine failure. The interconnect shaft
allows the aircraft to lose an engine with no
asymmetry in flight or controls. In the event of a
shaft failure, the control system is capable of
synchronisation and maintains symmetric power
and control application.
Interconnect
Drive Train

PCA converts Nacelle position up to 95

degrees for helicopter mode operations

Fig. 23: BA609 nacelle tilting system

The rotor (Fig. 24) is an other example of

the advanced technology introduced in this
aircraft. The three blades system has a 26 ft
diameter and a twist chosen to provide the best
balance between hover and cruise flight, to
reduce the fuel consumption and also to provide
a quiet airplane flight. The blade spar is made of Fig. 25: BA609 drive system
11
 Amedeo Caporaletti

test all possible failures and emergency

However what makes possible many of the procedures, simplifying the transition of pilots
distinctive features of the BA609 is the digital from either airplanes or helicopter to this new
fly-by-wire highly reliable flight control system, type of aircraft.
which has the function, to minimise the pilot The secret of the success of this system is
workload and satisfy a stringent set of handling in its capacity for failure management through
qualities requirements and objectives. The the redundancy management software that
cockpit controls are almost identical to those of minimizes the risk to the airplane if failure
a conventional helicopter and the transfer of occur ensuring in this way continued operation
controls from the helicopter way of doing to the even in the event of multiple failures.
airplane typical control is totally seamless to the
pilot and does not require any special action on In March 2003 the aircraft made its maiden
the pilot’s part. flight and a set of flight tests in helicopter mode
gave the first confirmations to the project,
providing important results to complete and
refine the design. In the next months the aircraft
will continue the test activities, performing also
the transition to airplane configuration and
exploring the entire flight envelope.

The challenge of the BA609, first civil

tiltrotor, is under way. The key to succeed in
such complex program lays in the unique
experience in rotorcrafts and tiltrotors that
Agusta and Bell have gained.

8. Conclusion
Fig. 26: BA609 Simulation Facility with Based on the achievements of Agusta in
hardware and pilots in the loop the vertical flight, as outlined above, our
Shareholder, Finmeccanica, has decided to
The heart of the 609’s flight control system strengthen the helicopter sector as one of its
resides in triplex flight control computer which main core business.
has three processors to enable each system to be In view of the unavoidable process of
self-checking without the possibility of concentration in the world aerospace industry,
contamination of another system. Each control Finmeccanica intends to strengthen its industrial
input made by the pilot is converted to a digital positioning by pursing its growth strategy in the
signal by redundant sensors and transmitted Aerospace sector in line with its stated strategic
through independent wiring. The computer objectives. In this framework, Finmeccanica
executes the proper input to the actuators from announced on the 26th May 2004 the agreement
the flight control law software and send signals with GKN for the acquisition of the latter’s 50%
to each actuator to implement the pilot’s desired shareholding in AgustaWestland.
command. The control law were fully tested Finmeccanica will, therefore, acquire full
through Pilot-in-the-loop flight simulation control of a high quality asset that will ensure a
techniques. They have been extensively used further strengthening of its technological
flying thousands of virtual maneuvers on 3 positioning. As a consequence, Agusta will
dedicated simulators in order to optimize the benefit of greater resources to reinforce its
handling qualities of the aircraft and to safely position to stay in the forefront of the vertical

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 PERSPECTIVES OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OF VERTICAL FLIGHT
The Point Of View Of Industry

flight business in the years to come in the entire

spectrum of the two guiding avenues of both the
conventional helicopter and the revolutionary
Tilt-Rotor.

References
[1] G. Price, “Prospects for the future of Vertical Flight”,
AIAA/ICAS International Air and Space Symposium
and Exposition: the Next 100 Year, 14-17 July 2003,
Dayton, Ohio

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