|
|
|
 |
FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
|
|
|
|
Posted on 01/15/2003 2:46:54 PM PST by Dead Dog
Osprey landings tested V-22 performs well in first sea trials since aircraft was grounded
Dallas Morning News 01/15/03 author: Jim Fry Copyright 2001 Gale Group Inc. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT 2001 The Dallas Morning News, L.P.
ABOARD THE USS IWO JIMA – A V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor touched down on the deck of the USS Iwo Jima at 1:11 p.m. Tuesday, the first time in almost three years that the troubled aircraft has landed on a Navy ship's flight deck.
"Looking pretty smooth," said Jim Shelton, a Navy civilian avionics engineer who watched the test 53 miles off the North Carolina coast.
In a little more than an hour , the V-22 touched down on the Iwo Jima five times, the engines tilting upward into helicopter mode and the right rotor hanging over the sea.
The landings were the first sea trials since the innovative aircraft – jointly developed by Boeing's helicopter unit and Fort Worth-based Bell Helicopter Textron – was grounded in 20002 after two crashes killed 23 people.
"It felt very good," says Lt. Col. Kevin Gross, the V-22's lead test pilot, who flew the aircraft in 22-knot winds, with the temperature right at freezing. "The aircraft is very stable, yet nimble and agile."
The tests are designed to see how the V-22 operates around helicopters on the 844-foot flight deck of the Iwo Jima, which was designed with the tilt-rotor in mind.
Lt. Col. Gross said he hoped to learn how to deal with the V-22's tendency to roll from side to side in the presence of other helicopters when it's sitting on deck with rotors turning.
V-22 critics are concerned about the effects of the aircraft's powerful downwash when it hovers partially over the deck. In a previous test, a pilot "briefly lost control and the aircraft kind of bobbled around," said Phillip Coyle, former chief of Pentagon operations and testing.
Mr. Coyle, now a defense consultant in California, expressed concern about the safety of the aircraft after the deadly crashes in Jacksonville, N.C., and Yuma, Ariz., in 2000. "That's why they're doing the test – to find out," he said.
During Tuesday's test, nine pieces of equipment transmitted wind measurements to a Bell Helicopter trailer sitting on the flight deck. Inside, Navy and Bell engineers used computers to analyze the troublesome downwash.
The testing was halted in midafternoon after two warning lights went on. But Lt. Col. Gross called them minor and "occasional, proclaiming the test "fairly close" to carefree.
|
|
|
|
|
FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
|
|
|
|
God bless those that are at sea, especially those that have been to sea for more than 6 months.
/john
The author probably means his right, the Ospreys' left.
Are you familiar with a net video of a Sea Knight dropping off into the fantail during landing. It apears to be a rotor stall (From my fixed-wing point of view), but it might be an example of 80-400? rule violation in a twin rotor. The aircraft was descending to land on a helo pad of a moving ship when it pitched up and rolled to IT'S right violently. As if the ascending side of the rear rotor disc failed.
I'll see If I can find a link.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.