12 in 30 - The MV-22 OSPREY (Beautiful yet deadly)
You've seen it, you've heard about it, now learn why so many people want the Osprey DESTROYED.
This reporter delves deep into the history of the Osprey, it's many uses and it's many failures, finally culminating in an investigative report in the pilots seat of an MV-22 Osprey, to learn if it's as dangerous as people say.
A VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) craft, the Osprey was the worlds first production tilt-rotor (the nacelles can rotate from a 90 degree helicopter position to a level prop plane position in "as little as 12 seconds").
Developed and built by Bell Helicopters and Boeing Helicopters, the Osprey is currently mostly in use by the Marine Corps, who use it for assault transport of troops, equipment and supplies and (just like the Marines) can quickly operate from ships or expeditionary airfields ashore (horah?),
In early April, 2000, two Ospreys loaded with Marines attempted to land at Marana National Airport in Arizona. One of the Ospreys, for some reason, started vertically descending at over 2000 feet per minute.
When descending in a helicopter, there is a phenomenon known as vortex ring state , which means that if the descent speeds exceed a certain limit, the helicopter (or OSPREY) will just drop like a rock.
Ironically, the time it takes to recover from a VRS event in an Osprey is significantly less than a conventional helicopter, however when the error occured and the second Osprey's right rotor stalled, the Osprey was a mere 245 feet above the ground- 1700 less than the feet needed to recover. The Osprey flipped and subsequently crashed- the explosion killing all onboard.
Critics claim that the aircraft is fundamentally flawed, and that the side by side rotor operation is inherently dangerous.
Mike Lieberman, a military aide on the House Armed Services Committe disagrees:
"My God, we've thrown so much money at it, we have to get something out of it."
Where do I weigh in on this heavy debate?
I decided to see for myself.
With a heavy flight manual in my lap on the way to Hawaii's testing grounds, I prepared to pilot the Osprey.
I do manage to taxi to the correct runway, confident in the abilities given to me by hasty flight manual reading while landing at Hawaii.
In no time I'm airborne! Raising up, up up!! I even retract the gear successfully.
Slowly I start the rotation of the angles, noticing that despite pulling up on the stick, the ground continues to rise in the cockpit window.
My landing is less than graceful.
However, after a rather long and painful recovery I jumped back on the horse, and finally mastered the art of transition (to say nothing of flying in a straight line). However, I was never able to achieve the boasted 12 second transfer time, nor the advertised top speed (even at altitude).
I did however, manage to set off the aforementioned VRS alarm many times, which warned me that I was about to drop 2000 feet or more very roughly.
So finally, while it was a fun idea and a good time all around, I really can't recommend the MV-22 for further operation- the ground just sneaks up on this guy.