What do you think of the V-22 Osprey?

[SUBMAN1]

It seems to be doing OK in Iraq:

The Dallas Morning News reported yesterday from Al-Asad in Iraq that VMM-263 Ospreys have logged 1,639 hours of flight time in Iraq, carrying 6,826 passengers and delivering 631,837 pounds of cargo "without a mishap or even a close call".


...VMM-263's commander, Lt-Col Paul Rock, said his unit had only been compelled to turn down tasks for lack of serviceable aircraft on "one or two" occasions over three months in theatre....

I hope it keeps up with this record. It's one program that deserves to be successful after all it's been through.

-S

[bradclark1]

I hope it keeps up with this record. It's one program that deserves to be successful after all it's been through.

-S
It's not going anywhere. The concept is too good to loose.

[AVGWarhawk]

Billions of dollars have gone into perfecting this bird. Sure, there was some bad crashes when it first hit the tarmac for testing but these have long since been ironed out. Of course training the pilots is a big must to handle the aircraft. Other than that, my only deal is it is very large and not the fastest moving thing. This makes it a easy target.

[sonar732]

Billions of dollars have gone into perfecting this bird. Sure, there was some bad crashes when it first hit the tarmac for testing but these have long since been ironed out. Of course training the pilots is a big must to handle the aircraft. Other than that, my only deal is it is very large and not the fastest moving thing. This makes it a easy target.

Yeah...it's not like a VSTOL jet at all. Trying to perfect the engineering aspects of going from helicopter to plane would be a huge undertaking to say the least. I'm glad they saw the potential with this. Granted, I don't know the lift capabilities as compaired to the blackhawk, but maybe the army might get an interest in this after seeing it's track record.

[Rotary Crewman]

An aircraft I hope I will never fly on. Yes I know I fly on helicopters and they shouldn't fly but come on...this REALLY should not fly!

[SUBMAN1]

An aircraft I hope I will never fly on. Yes I know I fly on helicopters and they shouldn't fly but come on...this REALLY should not fly!I detect a bit of resentment by a heli head! :D Trust me, we still need heli's!

By the way, I'll fly this thing! I'd even be at the controls if they let me!:up:

-S

[SUBMAN1]

...I don't know the lift capabilities as compaired to the blackhawk...

V-22 total payload: 35,000 lbs. useful load (20K internal, 15K external)

Black Hawk total payload: 8,000 lbs. useful load

V-22 range: 505 nm normal, 2100 nm ferry
V-22 speed: 390 MPH airplane mode, 115 MPH helicopter mode
V-22 ceiling: 25,000 ft

Black Hawk range: 325 nm normal, 1185 nm ferry
Black Hawk speed: 165 MPH at alt, 185 sea level
Black Hawk ceiling: 19,000 ft

Does that sum it up?

-S

[Skybird]

If the thing works now, it is gonna be nobody's problem. If it comes out with still having reliability or maintenance issues, it will be everybody's problem, but nobody's responsibility. :lol: Personally, I'd prefer a Spinner every time :D

[Jimbuna]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eL3x2kiNjL8

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6BhmNoCacUA&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dwKI9gy9AQM&feature=related

[em2nought]

An aircraft I hope I will never fly on. Yes I know I fly on helicopters and they shouldn't fly but come on...this REALLY should not fly!I detect a bit of resentment by a heli head! Or it could be a bit of common $en$e that you detect.

[SUBMAN1]

An aircraft I hope I will never fly on. Yes I know I fly on helicopters and they shouldn't fly but come on...this REALLY should not fly!I detect a bit of resentment by a heli head! Or it could be a bit of common $en$e that you detect.Nope. I don't detect that at all. The only other possibility is an unfounded fear factor.

-S

[bradclark1]

Or it could be a bit of common $en$e that you detect.
It has cost a whole bunch of money but the concept it outstanding. I would just hope they have enough backup controls for it. The hard work/money is done, well mostly anyway. Now it's just perfecting it and it's defence against anti-air. It's never going to replace the helicopter nor the light plane but it does fit nicely missionwise.

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

It seems to be doing OK in Iraq:

The Dallas Morning News reported yesterday from Al-Asad in Iraq that VMM-263 Ospreys have logged 1,639 hours of flight time in Iraq, carrying 6,826 passengers and delivering 631,837 pounds of cargo "without a mishap or even a close call".


...VMM-263's commander, Lt-Col Paul Rock, said his unit had only been compelled to turn down tasks for lack of serviceable aircraft on "one or two" occasions over three months in theatre....

I hope it keeps up with this record. It's one program that deserves to be successful after all it's been through. -S

The Ospreys hadn't even passed the 2000 hour operating mark yet and they are celebrating? I'll grant it is safer than the steam generator on an early November, but to put it in perspective, if they had even a single crash this early in, it'll be extrapolated to 61 accidents over 100,000 flying hours, which is well in the criminal range for an aircraft...

Tell me when they had at least had 10,000 operational hours without a crash... the vibes I'm taking is that they are putting out a happy report ASAP, before the statistics catch up with them and they crash...

[SUBMAN1]

They already have that kind of time. What the article is showing is 'combat' time.

-S

[Rotary Crewman]

An aircraft I hope I will never fly on. Yes I know I fly on helicopters and they shouldn't fly but come on...this REALLY should not fly!I detect a bit of resentment by a heli head! Or it could be a bit of common $en$e that you detect.Nope. I don't detect that at all. The only other possibility is an unfounded fear factor.

-S

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/37.gif

I'll put the 'fear factor' into it when I have done something more 'fearful' than being based in Iraq and the 'fear factors' that come with it.

Fair?

[SUBMAN1]

Yeah yeah yeah. When that thing starts crashing again, then I'll say you have a point. Until then, seems to be doing a good enough job for me to fly it!

-S

PS. THanks for serving our country though - we all appreciate it. Just wanted to mention that.

[Tchocky]

PS. THanks for serving our country though - we all appreciate it. Just wanted to mention that.

the USAF don't fly Merlins :p

A regards the Osprey, it looks fine now. I wouldn't call the program a success though.

[SUBMAN1]

PS. THanks for serving our country though - we all appreciate it. Just wanted to mention that.
the USAF don't fly Merlins :p

A regards the Osprey, it looks fine now. I wouldn't call the program a success though.Oops! You are right - he is Royal AF!

Well thanks for kicking in to help anyway!!! :D:D:D

[Rotary Crewman]

I'm not saying it will crash and I'm hoping it never does again. I'm just saying it's not my cup of tea!

Kicking in? I think kicking and screaming might be a better description ;)

[August]

The Ospreys hadn't even passed the 2000 hour operating mark yet and they are celebrating?

Good point. As a matter of fact the way it reads that's a combined total for the squadron not one particular aircraft.

[Wave Skipper]

burp

[M. Sarsfield]

I "flew" the V-22 aircraft simulator at Patuxent River Naval Air Station with full cockpit mock-up about 5 years ago. They put a lot of money into their simulators and this one was mounted on a moveable platform that tilted in the direction that you were rolling and/or pitching.

I flew around in aircraft mode and then they showed me how to transition to quasi-helicopter mode so that I could land it like a conventional aircraft. My thoughts were that it was kind of sluggish and would make an easy AA target... even without radar guided AAA. You can hear the thing coming from quite a distance away, too.

My main concern is that if one of the engines gets shot out while it's in hover mode, she's going to flip and land upside down. My dad was shot down in a helicopter three times in one day in Viet Nam (they attempted to pick them up in the middle of a heavy fire fight) and at least they had the ability to wreck right side up. There is a shaft that connects both rotors in case of single engine failure, but the thing can barely fly on one engine and they have had some shaft/gearbox failures in the past. Just imagine if it's loaded down with men and/or equipment.

However, Marines are used to flying in things that tend to crash. CH-46's and AV-8B's (Carolina Lawn Darts) fall out of the sky frequently. A Marine officer friend of mine lost a few fingers in a CH-46 crash a few years ago. He said that Marine pilots try to get assigned to F-18 squadrons, rather than Harrier squadrons, because of the nature of the plane. After seeing how long the government keeps aircraft around and witnessing some of their maintenance practices first hand, I decided that I'd never fly in a government aircraft ever again - I got to fly in a CH-47 in the early '90's.

If you're wondering why you don't hear about these crashes all the time, it's because they tend not to bring it up in the news, if they don't have to. We had a trainer wreck and kill both pilots at Pax River several years ago and they released very little info to the public about it. We were told to direct any inquiries to the base public relations office.

[bookworm_020]

I admired von Braun, as it was generally kept hidden from us that he was an old Sturmbannführe and slave master. I still like him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun

He aimed for the moon, but kept hitting London!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I have a respect for him and for Sergey Korolyov, his main rival. It would be intersting to have seen these two work side by side and see what they would have achived

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Korolev

Back on topic: The V-22 is an interesting concept, but it would be a large target if it worked in a hot LZ or an area with any form of Anti aircraft weaponary. :hmm:

[Subnuts]

What do I think of the V-22 Osprey? I think it would have killed my uncle if he'd been onboard one instead of a UH-1 Huey when he was shot down over Vietnam. :roll: