Or unexpected. It was actually brought up at least 15 years ago.
On the heels of 12 major mishaps in the last four years, the military’s first tiltrotor aircraft program must take “immediate and decisive action” to avoid more loss and tragedy, a new comprehensive review released Friday by the U.S. Navy finds.
The V-22 Osprey, which the Navy uses for aircraft carrier onboard delivery missions, is overdue for a midlife upgrade, spending far too much on unscheduled maintenance and contending with undertrained maintainers — all of which spell increased risk for a platform that has faced intense scrutiny since its earliest days in the air. The 33-page review recommends the establishment of a readiness and safety steering board to report annually to top officials on the Osprey’s status; initiation of the overdue midlife upgrade; and changes to establish a “proactive safety system” to identify and address mechanical issues before mishaps occur.
Full article, HERE from Military Times.
The V-22 is a touchy beast, VERY complicated, and has always been a maintenance nightmare, exceeding the ‘standard’ of less than 15 manhours/flight hour.
Another issue is training and retaining maintenance personnel who can actually fix them. Standard ‘fleet’ training really doesn’t apply, due to the multiplicity of complex systems to make the V-22 basically fly sideways in its ‘helicopter’ mode.
Yes, there were pilot training issues, most of those have been ironed out over time, but another issue is that the USAF tends to not cooperate with the Navy/Marines on investigations, maintenance issues, etc. We always referred to it as the Air Force playing ‘I’ve got a secret’…
But something needs to be done before we lose more troops, crews, and aircraft!
In other news, I nominate the combined USMA/USNA glee squads to do the National Anthem at the Super Bowl!
Their rendition of the National Anthem literally* gave me chills.
Absolutely perfect.
*I mean “literally” as in it actually did that, not “literally” as in a more emphatic form of “figuratively”…and it disturbs me that I actually feel the need to spell that out these days.
What’s the point in having a common language when misuse of it means you have to spend a paragraph explaining exactly what you mean by the use of a single word anyway?
PS: Navy 17, Army 16. Two in a row (although I have to admit that some of that came down more to being lucky than good…I’ll take it). Go Navy.
I saw at least 4 CH46’s go in the drink during Vertreps , I thought the Osprey was going to replace them . All the pics I see now are SH60’s doing vertreps . Terrible to see , the 46’s were doing their figure eight patterns from supply to receiving ship (us) , and the rotors got out of synch and the blades just splintered , helos dropped like a rock . Nothing we could do but keep hooked up and pumping , the ships aft of us (waiting in line) responded for search and rescue. Still freaks me out thinking about it ..all souls lost.Very very sad get a lump in my throat thinking about it.
I’m baffled. Surely anyone with a bit of engineering background need only look at a photo of the beast to declare “That’s a silly bloody design.”
Or, indeed, anyone with any sort of practical background. Or anyone used to critical thinking.
Am I exaggerating? I don’t think so.
“Some men say why. I dream things that never were and say why not?”
Hey Old NFO,
My perspective as an Army guy with a lot of commercial aviation experience. To me the V22 was sold as “Something for everyone” and it can’t do everything well. It is very complicated to maintain and if the equipment is deadlined because it isn’t mission capable because the mechanics ain’t done maintaining the bird for the next mission, what then? My time as a member as a member of the “Green machine” with all the distractions” that goes on during the duty day, and keep up with the maintenance….something gotta give.
Agree with the rendition of the National Anthem, but at the Superbowl followed by Bunnywhoever a half later? Far too much contrast.
I don’t know enough about the Osprey to comment, but as far as the National Anthem, I do have an opinion. This rendition was by far the best and most moving one that I think I have heard, at least in the past couple of decades or so.
And a shout out to the referee who did then introduction of the game and the President. A fantastic amount of reverence to not only a sitting president, but to all of those military members and their families, past and present. While it is often mentioned, it is never said enough the debt we owe to those who would, and sometimes have, given all in service to the ideals on which we have come to sadly take for granted.
Amen.
Not only would I NEVER get on board an Osprey, if I were a mechanic I would refuse to work on one. At some point the top brass instead of owning up to the V22 being a POS they will start blaming the mechanics.
My younger brother was airborne/air assault, two Iraq tours, one in Afghanistan. He had to fly in an Osprey once. In his words, “What a piece of shit.”
I know zip about the aircraft but have a suggestion. All O-6 and above, who have anything to do with the program, be required to fly in one twice a month.
Curt/BobF- Agreed!
Boats- Understood. They were the ‘best’ at the time, all things considered. Yes, when the blades get out of sync, it’s all over… sigh
Dearie/Bob/Pigpen/Gregg/Riddle- Don’t disagree at all. ‘I’ never took the opportunities to fly on one, for the same reasons. And I started out in H-34s!
Re. the Anthem. It is an unusual arrangement, or there are not as many sopranos as one usually hears in a choral arrangement. The melody descended several times where it usually rises. As I said, it could be a different arrangement than what I usually hear or sing.
WSF- Yeah, they would have ‘excuses’…
TXRed- It’s glee club, so I doubt many sopranos there. And I could ‘hear’ this version! 🙂 FWIW…
One of the Engineers I worked with had been on the Osprey program.
He said he’d NEVER fly in one. If you lost an engine, the other one had to run at 110% power just to keep it airborne.
If you do any reading on the subject of the Osprey, you will find it is the safest aircraft in current use. Yeah, it’s a complicated bird. There seems to be two major problems with them.
One: Any failures in flight are almost always catastrophic, with a total loss of occupants. This situation is why they look so bad.
Two: The pilots MUST believe that chip detectors are reliable, and ACT accordingly. There is NO excuse for pilots to ignore them. The services need to figure out how to get them to this point BEFORE they kill everyone on board. Perhaps cashier them the first time they pull this stunt and survive it?
They need to toss BOTH pilots in that situation. Maybe if both of them have skin in the game, the #2 pilot will force the commander to do his job? Are they armed while flying? Maybe a pistol pointed at the primary will get his attention.
“Re. the Anthem. It is an unusual arrangement”
It’s pretty common for artists to put their own spin on the Anthem. I’m OK with that as long as it maintains the “spirit” of the original piece and doesn’t make it unrecognizable or include flourishes that just make it weird.
That rendition was respectful, beautiful and inspiring in my opinion. I thought it was really really good.
The trouble with the V-22 is that it is literally an ancient design that attempts to solve the problem of transition from helicopter to aircraft with mechanical systems that are long since outdated by software. Ever see a drone go from hover to high speed forward flight. Notice there is no “tilt rotor” mechanism.