Following up on the first US flight of the X3 demonstrator in the skies over Texas, the official demonstration tour kicked off at American Eurocopter’s Grand Prairie facility today. The event featured not only a flight demonstration by the X3, but also a lineup of models from across the history of Eurocopter and the legacy companies that combined to form it. In order of appearance there was an EC225, an EC155 Dolphin, a USCG MH-65 Dolphin, two LUH-72 Lakota aitcraft destined for the US Army, an EC145, a BO105, an EC120, and reaching way back to 1955, an Alouette II flew alongside the X3 – the first and the latest.
As part of the events that day a special guest was taken up to experience the X3 first hand – Dario Franchitti, four?time reigning IZOD IndyCar Series Champion and three?time Indianapolis 500 Winner.
“The flight was really incredible,” said Mr. Franchitti after stepping out of the X3 onto the American Eurocopter runway. “Marc Paganini [President of American Eurocopter] and I had this joke that my Indy cars are faster than all of his helicopters, but I guess that they’ve fixed that one now! The X3 is now faster than the Indy cars. That says it all.”
