By Evan Ackerman
In the market for a new form of transportation? Trying to decide between an Agusta A109 and a Pilatus PC-12? Well, forget those, just forget them. Mortgage your house, rob a couple banks, and sell your friends into slavery ’cause a civilian version of the V-22 Osprey is now up for grabs. Called the Bell 609, it’s functionally the same (albeit a lot smaller) than its big brother, sporting the ability to take off and land with the versatility and precision of a helicopter. After takeoff, it can rotate its engines forward to vertical allowing it to fly with the speed and efficiency of an airplane. It’ll seat up to 9 passengers, has an 1100 mile range, and can hit 300 mph at 25,000 ft.
What’s this little toy going to set you back? Unsurprisingly, it’s likely to be somewhere north of $20 million. And considering the uninspiring development record of the original V-22 (which cost $70 million a pop or $115 million fully outfitted, by the way), you might want to set aside a little extra for maintenance. And flight school.
[ Bell 609 ] VIA [ Danger Room ]
This is perfect for NY. Flies like a plane but can land anywhere. However the osprey has good track record of flying, bad track record on landing.
You mean, all I can do with it is fly?
Hmmm. $20 million bucks… and it only transports matter… I’ll give you 25 cents for it.