Posted on 10/16/2006 9:10:13 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
It's brick mode that's the problem.
Exactly.
BTW, the Osprey cannot autorotate in an emergency.
As with any compromise, it can't autorotate like a helicopter, and it's a more precarious design than a fixed wing.* The best (when it works) and the worst (when it doesn't) of both worlds.
Like I said, if the Marines like it, good for them. Otherwise, I wouldn't expect them to cotton to it in general.
* I'm not sure the flying bananas can autorotate with gearbox malfunctions either, can they?
What is the flight/maintenance ratio?
fyi
Self-deployable means an Osprey unit can load their people and stuff in their planes and fly from where they are to where they need to be, refueling in midair enroute.
The capability hasn't been thoroughly tested yet. One pair of Ospreys went to Europe and back, but one of them lost an engine on the way out and had to land for a precautionary engine replacement.
The press, and anti-defense groups like the Center for Defense Information, a former Soviet front that has opposed every weapon since the M-2 carbine, had a field day with that, but at show's end, the two Ospreys redeployed to the USA with no drama. East to West in the northern hemisphere is the hard one cause the winds are against you. Of course, there is no reporting of the successes of this program in the MSM. Doesn't fit the template, you know. ("Military people are too dumb to get anything right, while being evil masterminds at all times. Defence contractors are all crooked, new weapons are all failures, and no one tells the truth except for lawyers and lobbyists").
To answer the guy that asked about accidents, there were three fatal crashes in the development of the Osprey, in 1992 and two in 2000. They led to design and operational changes (the accident that killed 19 was due to pilot error, so training in that aspect of the flight regime and the particular hazard that undid those marines has been reemphasized).
Many aircraft have suffered the crash of a prototype or crashes in the test program, off the top of my head I can think of the P-38, P-51, B-17, B-29, B-52 and F-14 as a few examples. "Sacrifices must be made!" (last words of aviation pioneer, and air crash victim, Otto Lilienthal)
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
ping.
Drive shafts are "inside" the aft section of the wing.
Or their management is better than our management. It's hard to be a good engineer under a bad manager
Man what are you talking about? Did you post this for another thread :)
-replaces the CH46
-it can land anywhere the 46 can
-it's bigger than the 46
-yes
-they should not touch each other
Good news. Onward and upward.
I spoke to a couple of fellows from Boeing recently who had been working with the squadron at New River. They had billed a press junkett to overcome past negative press releases. Invited everybody up for a flight, they all were anxious to get aboard, flew around for about 30 minutes and began their descent, engines rotated up and landed in a civilian vacant lot.
The press were then told that if they enjoyed BarBQ they could come on into the restaurant for an adhoc buffet. One of the press made a wry comment about southern BarBQ and how N/S Carolina really wasn't known for its BarBQ. That's when the crew chief told him not to worry, because this was West Virginia BarBQ. The reporter responded that they thought this was a dog and pony show, now with catered BarBQ.
The crew chief responded, "No, we're in West Virginia and it happens to be a restaurant beside an open field we can land in.
They had flown in about 20-30 nimutes over several states and had landed up north, whereas the reporters thought they had simply circled the airfield a couple of times. That distance travelled that quickly with such ease helped reinforce the significance of this aircraft as a replacement for the CH-46.
Compare these comments to those comparing an Amphibious tractor to a Bradley. One can become myopic on the amphibious role, whereas they might more frequently be used as mechanized transport.
Likewise with the Osprey. It provides a speed factor, thereby allowing a company lift from further out at sea or from more accessible land based airstrips or even a remote LZ with a refueler.
It expands the area of operations for that MAGTF commander to establish a line of departure further away from hostile environments, or more explicitly less densely defended areas.
The Osprey, IMHO, will greately enhance company level mobility in operational planning and engagement with less fixed tail. Maybe not more tooth to tail, but less targetable tail.
On 25 August 1965 a transmission part failure caused an asymmetric lift situation, which allowed the crew to validate the operation of their ejection seats.
Now there is understatement!
I'm not a big CH-46 fan but MV-22 cannot come into a LZ as quickly as any type of pure helo.
Larger cabin capacity than a 46, but not that much larger (I've been in both - MV-22 is much smaller than it looks).
Cannot be armed as a pure helo can.
Must operate MUCH further apart than "not touch each other"
The cruxt of my questions/concern was their over-all utility Vs their price-tag.
Other than the Wright Flyer name me an aircraft that went from drawing board to operational status without "an incident!"
No, was just tickled by the language, "which allowed the crew to validate the operation of their ejection seats.
".
Actually the Wright Flyer killed a young leutnant on his first trial hop with one of the brothers at the controls.
That may have been one of the first "pilot error" fatalities
I suppose.
The Executive Flight Detachment at HMX-1 at MCAF Quantico operates the VH-60N Nighthawk.
how do you eject from a helo???
The acoustic siganture of the Osprey is about 75% less than that of the CH-46E and CH-53D that it will be replacing. That along with a 95% reduction in its IR signature, its greater speed and different ingress tactics mean that there will indeed be plenty of unfriendlies that will be surprised to see it.
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