The HeliHub.com Interview – Daniele Romiti, CEO AgustaWestland

The HeliHub.com Interview – Daniele Romiti, CEO AgustaWestland

6-Mar-2015 Source: HeliHub.com

Andrew Drwiega interviewed Daniele Romiti inside the mock-up of an AW609 VIP cabin at Heli-Expo, 2015. The discussion in fact centred on the development and future of AgustaWestland’s tiltrotor.

Andrew Drwiega (AD): When you bought the AW609 off Bell Helicopter Textron, it was agreed that a number of there engineers would continue to work on the aircraft to assist with certification. Is this still the case and if so how do you maintain confidentiality within the group as Bell Helicopter is developing its own military tilt rotor, the V-280 Valor?

Daniele Romiti (DR): The development of the AW609 is almost finished in that we have now made several changes to the basic design, many of which have targeted efficiency and ability. So we have covered all of the flight envelope including autorotation, for which our pilots won an award. The Bell role was an insurance within our agreement to make sure we were not left alone if unforeseen problems developed. But the handover was faster than predicted. So there is no more sharing of activities between us and Bell apart from some specific hardware when we need tests on their simulators.

So we are now going alone after recruiting some expertise (some from Bell), including chief engineer Dave King. So where next? It is to progress along the certification path which means we get all the modification we tested, embodying the new engines and avionics in the next two prototypes. These will be in the production configuration.

We then enter the certification process which will end by 2017. The vehicle will now be assessed by the FAA and that means we will have to repeat some of that flight activity in order for them to assess that the test conditions have been achieved.

AD: How does the agreement announcement at Heli-Expo with Bristow strengthen your cause that tiltrotor technology is the way ahead?

DR: It addresses the market in two ways. Firstly it gives us a partner in the final shaping of the product allowing us to adjust the final minor features in order to maximise what will appeal to customers in this last portion of the design activity. Secondly, it gives the market a clear sign that there is a customer who believes in this architecture and who has a declared intent to be the leader in this point-to-point logistic services.

AD: So you certify in the United States and begin production in Philadelphia.

DR: Yes, there was no longer a need of a link with Bell. Arlington was not our perfect base. Philidelphia is established and we are continuing to be an integrated project team. We will move step by step in line with our confidence that everything is going well.

AD: Are you looking at a VIP configuration first for the AW609?

DR: Not really. The flexibility is key. We have shown the two cabins here, SAR and VIP, but we are answering statements that the cabin is small. We are sitting comfortably in here I think.

AD: It must help enforce positive market perception now that Bell is developing another tilt rotor in the V-280 for the military?

DR: Yes, the world is dividing over compound and tilt rotor solutions in the future. And our initiative is to propose a 22-seater tilt rotor. Compound is not scalable but the tiltrotor architecture depends on the engine that you put onboard; it depends on the power. Technology is now offering many options on the power so the 22-seater would have more powerful engines.

The Clean Sky II is our proposal with more powerful engines. It was part of Clean Sky I. It will have European funding with other companies as suppliers. It is a potential trainer for the V-22 or for special forces when a team of nine people, or as Combat SAR. It is quiet so you can not hear it until it is very near.

AD: Do you see any potential cooperation with Bell Helicopter in the future?

DR: I’m not excluding it.

AD: You have been in the job now over two years since February 2013, so what is your ambition going forward?

DR: Service excellence. This is something we launched last year in 2014 and we are entering into the execution phase. We delivered solid numbers at HAI which we are committing to, and this is key. We are always improving the product side, but now the excellence has to be on the product support side – training included. Our customer, the Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard is a fine example (flying AW139s). They had no pilots, experience or network but they did want their own capability. Now they have their own certified pilots, they have a networked operational base and their have created a service from one that did not exist.

AD: Thank you.

ENDS

 

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