AgustaWestland AW109

what is it?

The AgustaWestland AW109, originally the Agusta A109, is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter designed and initially produced by the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer Agusta. It was the first all-Italian helicopter to be mass-produced. Its production has been continued by Agusta's successor companies,formerly AgustaWestland, merged into the new Finmeccanica since 2016, presently Leonardo.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 turboshaft engines · 11 m main rotor

base stats

• speed 311 km/htop speed
• seats 7passengers
• size 2,850 kgmax take-off weight
• built 636made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 55 years ago, in 1971.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Rotor of 11 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.

turboshaft: A turbine that turns a shaft, usually a helicopter rotor.

spec sheet

first flight

1971-08-04

introduced

1976

status

in production

number built

636

role

search and rescue/utility helicopter

origin

🇮🇹 Italy

makers

Leonardo

engines

2× Pratt & Whitney Canada PW206C

crew

1

passengers

7

length

11.5 m

rotor diameter

11 m

height

3.5 m

max take-off weight

2,850 kg

top speed

311 km/h

cruise speed

285 km/h

range

—

ceiling

4,575 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family