[misanthrope]

Notice the 4 ea engines are interconnected by driveshafts.

I would think that if you lost an engine, you'd simply lose 25% of your power.

If the rotor itself gets whacked, it'll probably still fly better than any helicopter that's lost a rotor.

I think it's PURDY!!

[Brian Allen]

<< I would think that if you lost an engine, you'd simply lose 25% of your power. >>

Because of drive-shaft and gearbox friction etceteras and other inherent inefficiencies, in what we call a "Critical Flight Situation" and particularly when operating within the "Dead Man's Curve" part of the Flight Envelope, [Vertical take off and early climb/accelerate; low-level hover and final approach and landing configurations] probably more like half or more than half of the aircraft's PERFORMANCE.

As the Osprey has well and truly demonstrated, this is not even close to a sensible aircraft type and may never be viable.

Which is not to say the Pentagon, which has ever demonstrated its unsurpassed genius for getting everything totally wrong every darned time; won't squander Scores of Billions -- and maybe another Trillion to match the Trillion it lost to fraud and bad accounting during the KKKli'toon years -- on it.