Leonardo Helicopters is progressing toward its long-sought goal of certification for the world's first operational civil tiltrotor. A fleet of four AW609s currently flying have added about 10 of the program's 1,900-plus flight hours since the middle of last year. But the tiltrotor, which first took flight on March 7, 2003, as the Bell Agusta Aerospace Corp. BA609, still faces major certification hurdles. As of early February, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had not yet published the final rule for the AW609's proposed airworthiness criteria in the US Federal Register for public comment, a necessity before that basis can become the foundation for issuing the tiltrotor's type certificate (TC).
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