Pilots Discuss Use of Osprey

If the engines fail in the airplane mode, the Osprey glides in like an airplane. The huge "props" are supposed to shred on ground contact. This has never been tested. The high wing loading of the Osprey does not give it a very good glide ratio, so the rate of descent is going to be very fast, leaving the pilot very little choice of a forced landing area. With such a high rate of descent and fragmenting props, there can be no assurance of an injury free landing.

If the V-22 is in helicopter mode, the pilot is to try and get it back to airplane mode. However, the time that it takes to transition the pylons from vertical to horizontal is going to be affected by the altitude of the aircraft at the time the engines fail. Since its vertical flight regime is normally less than 1,000 feet above the ground, the outcome is problematic. The aircraft manual states that if the dual engine failure occurs around 100 feet above the ground, the crash attenuating seats are the principal means of survival.

I expect that the proponents of the Osprey will argue that a dual engine failure is a very rare event. However, it has happened many times in conventional airplanes and helicopters. Some of the primary reasons are contaminated fuel, fuel starvation, and engine icing. Over vast stretches of water, the engine failures do not have to be simultaneous to create a disaster.

We have MV-22 dual engine emergency procedures for both VTOL flight (when the nacelles are pointed up), and in airplane mode (when the nacelles are all the way down). In airplane mode, where the aircraft spends most of its time, we would glide like any other fixed wing airplane. In VTOL mode, depending on the altitude and the airspeed at the time of the dual engine failure, pilots would either roll the nacelles over to attempt a glide or enter the autorotation. The young Captain-pilot did not make light of it during the interview. We train extensively in single and dual engine failure procedures during initial pilot qualifications, and we do emergency simulator training every 30 days.

The question concerning 62 percent availability for new aircraft is one that may require some explanation because it's not well understood. Full mission capable (FMC) verses partial mission capable (PMC) availability rates have significant distinctions. FMC means every system on the aircraft works - to include every single subsystem. PMC means one or more systems that may be required for a specific mission are not fully functional, for example, the ice protection system. This is the system that is primarily responsible for bringing the FMC rate down for the VMM-263 aircraft (all Block B aircraft). Fortunately, we don't think lack of an Ice Protection System will be a significant mission degrader for the MV-22 in Iraq.

Typically, established military aircraft PMC rates hover around 80 percent, but for new aircraft you can't expect that -- our Marines don't have years of maintenance experience like we do on our other aircraft. The availability rates are increasing as we gain experience and learn more about the design. Overall, the PMC rate for the Block B aircraft is 79 percent, already pretty close to the established military average of around 80 percent.

Regardless of the FMC/PMC numbers, you can't lose sight of the fact that VMM-263 completed every assigned sortie during the exercise. The Desert Talon (DT) Exercise is designed to be an "endurance test" for the aircraft and the squadrons. To "pass" a DT, they have to operate at high tempo doing specific tasks they are going to see while deployed, day in and day out. That is what we were out there to do.

If you're curious, and the question sounds like you may be, the landing at the fuel pits they were trying to capture on film that day was set up for the cameras. It was an add-on task for the show. There were additional significant factors not involving the aircraft or the military that caused the scene to be missed. And the film of me rolling to the backup aircraft was the one time (in the entire exercise) that I had to do that, they just happened to be filming me that day.