AgustaWestland

Almost exactly two years after AgustaWestland unveiled the AW109 Trekker at the 2014 Heli-Expo in Anaheim, California, the helicopter has made its first flight. The inaugural flight was successfully completed at the Finmeccanica helicopter division in Cascina Costa, Italy. Test pilots Giuseppe Afruni and Giuseppe Segreto took the controls of the Trekker and tested the […]

The FAA has validated EASA’s certification of the AgustaWestland AW189 medium twin-engine helicopter, clearing the way for customer deliveries in the United States to start soon. AgustaWestland received the validation following flight testing activities with the FAA earlier this year. The AW189 is designed for longer range, higher capacity requirements for SAR, offshore, and corporate […]

AgustaWestland this morning showed off the AW609 prototype for the first time in a public venue — and in the process gave clarity to the future direction of the civil tiltrotor market with a paint scheme boasting Bristow and Eastern Airways colors. Bristow Group, one of the world’s largest offshore helicopter operators, has committed to […]

AgustaWestland opened up its booth at Heli-Expo on Tuesday morning with a massive floor-to-ceiling cloth screen blocking about one fifth of its floor-space. Another giant flat-screen banner display at the back of the booth had a countdown timer in anticipation of the unveiling. A large crowd of people gathered to witness a dramatic unveiling, which […]

Italian police arrested the current and former CEOs of helicopter maker AgustaWestland on Tuesday, charging both men with bribery stemming from an Indian helicopter contract. Giuseppe Orsi, the chairman and CEO of Finmeccanica and former CEO of AgustaWestland, was taken into custody by police while current AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini has reportedly been placed under […]

An AgustaWestland AW109 crashed in thick fog into a construction crane atop a London residential high-rise on Wednesday morning, killing the pilot and one person on the ground and sparking a fire when the helicopter plunged to the ground. According to news reports from London, 13 others were injured in the crash near a busy […]

AgustaWestland’s AW169 took to the skies for the first time last week, marking a significant milestone on its path to certification in 2014, the company announced. According to AgustaWestland representatives, the AW169 – launched nearly two years ago at the Farnborough International Air Show – performed and handled “as expected” during the test flight at […]

After years of back-and-forth negotiations, Bell Helicopter has at last agreed to sell its stake in the BA609 civil tiltrotor program to partner AgustaWestland. As a result, the tiltrotor is being renamed the AW609. Bell will continue to supply components and engineering support for the tiltrotor, but flight testing and manufacture will move solely to […]