Thirty years ago? Heck, Shy, I was excited about the tilt-rotor forty years ago! And by that time, Bell had already been working on the concept for fifteen years (since 1953). The fact that they're divesting it to the Italians is telling. I can imagine Bell CEO Richard Millman asking his people, HOW long has this company been working on this?? And it's STILL not certified? And won't be until 2012?? MAYBE?? Oh, fer cryin' out...Look, just dump it. Dump it NOW!
Shy and Shawn are right: A whole new infrastructure will have to be built to accomodate the 609. Can anyone imagine a 609 landing at a Manhattan heliport? Is there even one that could accommodate a tiltrotor right now? If not, scratch the New York market. Remember the much-touted IFR-MLS approaches to Wall Street that never happened?
At PHI, whenever a "big ship" (anything the size of a 412 or larger) was coming in to land on a platform where there was already a small ship (e.g. 206) parked, the small ship had to be lashed to the deck with airframe tiedowns and *both* blades had to be secured. What will happen when a 609 comes in to land at a heliport where other "normal" helicopters are parked? There'll be 206's and Astars laying over on their sides like toys, that's what.
And Shy is quite right, if the 609 is used where you have to go airport-to-airport at both ends then you might as well use a real King Air. I'd go further and say that the 609 might not even justify itself if there's a heliport at only one end.
I'm no clairvoyant, but I just can't see big cities approving and building big "vertiports" for the tilt-rotor. And oh yesh, they will have to be big. Let's see, where's that one in Washington D.C. gonna go? Wait, they already have one! It's called Washington National Airport. And 609's landing at the corporate headquarters? Man, I'd love to have the auto windshield repair business in that town!
Bell knows this, obviously. They know that the corporate market in the U.S. is just out...a non-starter. That leaves the rest of the world. Okay, maybe not Britain but parts of Europe, Russia, Africa...China? India?
Plus, I'm sure the CEO Millman had a sit-down, "Come to Jesus" talk with the engineers. He probably asked: What is this thing REALLY gonna carry? How fast is it REALLY gonna go...you know, with a load? And how far? Are we talking nine pax at 260 knots for 750 miles? From a vertical takeoff?
And the engineers probably said, "Umm, no Chief. Not even close. But you know, a JetRanger can't even hit all of its performance high points at the same time either."
At which point Millman probably said, What, are we f~</<ing married to this thing?! I want a divorce!! Get me Agusta on the phone, STAT!
Or maybe not. Who knows.
One one hand, I'm with Shawn Coyle. It'd be interesting to build it and see what market develops for it. Because you know one (or more) will.
On the other hand, I fear that the 609 will be Bell's equivalent of the Beechcraft Starship. A small number will get built, but not nearly enough to pay for the 60+ years of development, much less the tooling. They'll be virtually uninsurable and uncrewable and impractical. Then, one 609 will get into a fatal A-VRS accident (because civilian operators won't be hamstrung in their operating parameters like NATOPS does for the V-22). The 609 fleet will get grounded and eventually all will get recalled and scrapped.
Shawn talks about unlocking the potential of the tiltrotor. Personally, I think if the design had any merit, the potential would have been realized and exploited years...wait, decades(?) ago.