Finmeccanica - AgustaWestland was honored with the 2014 American Helicopter Museum and Education Center Achievement Award for Project Zero tiltrotor demonstrator.
Led by Dr. Wang, the Project Zero team designed, built, and flew a one-ton, all-electric vertical lift aircraft in six months.
The tilt rotor technology demonstrator is completely electric powered; designed to hover like a helicopter and convert to a fixed wing aircraft in forward flight. Its two integrated rotors can be tilted through more than 90 degrees. The demonstrator performed its first unmanned tethered flight in June 2011 at AgustaWestland’s Cascina Costa facility in Italy and has since performed untethered hovering flights inside a secured area.
The ‘Project Zero’ technology demonstrator program is being entirely funded by AgustaWestland as part of its ongoing research and development activities.