Bell BA-609 (N609PA)

rwb

Thank you for the comment on the Tiltrotor. This is a fun one to catch!

Nice photo !

Rick Hoffman:

Living in the vicinity of where this tiltrotor is based should render some more cool postings of this aircraft in the future. Thanks for the comment!

Very happy to see this platform progress. In the 80's and 90's I was involved with the 609 flight testing at NASA Ames, was not always fast progress because a great deal was to be learned. Experimental racks in, racks out, rack in, rack out. I remember those days, most data was on an 8 track tape and the transition to composite blades, well that's another story…;.

firewatch209:

Thank you for the insight on your early days of the aircraft. Never would have thought that 8-Track tapes (alien technology) would have been used for data storage.

What a great catch! 5 star+++++++++

Hundo

C.W.

Haven't seen much of you lately around this site. Thanks for the comment on this rotorcraft as it is a local favorite that I catch once in a while.

Been awhile, my friend. I'll be around more often now.:-)

Hundo

This thing just flew - S L O W L Y and with a LOT of noise over my office.

Me and a co-worker just stood outside staring at it gradually pass overhead at 6k ft.

It is an ungainly beast. Did I mention it was LOUD?

mfBucks:

I actually was in view of the airport and saw that rotorcraft departing to the west. It does have a unique noise, unlike regular helos. Thanks for the comment.