Osprey damaged in "inadvertant takeoff" accident

[Major Destruction]

Osprey Mishap Raises Questions
InsideDefense.com NewsStand | Christopher J. Castelli | March 30, 2006
A Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey at the air base in New River, NC, suffered “major damage to its wing and right engine” in a mishap March 27, according to a statement issued by the service after the incident.

The aircraft damage “resulted from an inadvertent takeoff followed by a hard landing” on the base's flight line during a post-maintenance functional check flight, according to the statement. No one was hurt, the service said.

It is not yet clear what caused the mishap. The Marine Corps is investigating the incident. There will be two investigations -- one led by a mishap board and another by the judge advocate general.

The base at New River is overseen by the 2nd Marine Air Wing at Cherry Point, NC. Maj. Shawn Haney, a spokeswoman at Cherry Point, said the incident has been labeled a class A mishap, which is the most serious and expensive kind. By definition, any mishap costing more than $1 million is in this category.

The Osprey damaged in the incident belongs to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Training Squadron 204. At press time, Haney did not have the identifying numbers for that particular aircraft.

Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing make the Osprey mainly for the Marine Corps, but also for the Air Force component of U.S. Special Operations Command. Bell spokesman Bob Leder had no comment on the mishap and referred questions to the Marine Corps.

[firstknife]

i beleive the V-15 also made by bell textron is the smaller variant to the v22, I'd wish they would spend more time on that project than trying to work with the MV22 I like both I just feel that the '22 is rather large and cumbersome when missing one engine. the '15 is atleast more aerodynamic. the v22 for the most part cant autorotate in an emergency, because all the emergencies have been with the components that are needed to autorotate.
It looks like its too much weight and/or mass to be trying to do the things they with the mv 22

[Major Destruction]

I also think the 22 has a huge amount of transmission friction and mass compared with the size of the rotor blades. I'm not sure if it could do a true autorotation if all the components were working properly. Way back in the day these conversations were a daily occurance with the Harrier and everyone quesioned it's effectiveness. Now it is considered a great combat aircraft in it's intended role.

[firstknife]

I support the MV22 as a combat weapon I feel that it isnt sound enough yet to be put into combat much less with soldiers lives besides the harrier has some form of aerodynamics allowing it to fall like a jet in a forward moving direction.

I would really like to see the stress put on the engine as the propellar changes its plane of rotation mid flight I'm sure that got to be tough on the gear boxes