Defence Tech: MV-22 Engine Problems in Anbar

[unhappycamper]

MV-22 Engine Problems in Anbar

The Bell Helicopter-Boeing team that builds the V-22 Osprey will hold a press conference Tuesday at the Farnborough Air Show with a number of senior Marine corps officers playing the starring roles, presumably to extol the virtues of the V-22 and its performance in Iraq.

They might not want to volunteer the following recent incident so we'll do it for them. It just so happens that on June 21 a Marine V-22 crew had a serious engine problem forced the crew to quickly find a place to land.

~snip~

In other words, the engine was breaking up. Not a good thing. But what’s more interesting is the indication that the troubled engine was still putting out considerable thrust, but the aircraft couldn’t maintain altitude. The V-22 is supposed to be able to fly at least some distance and land on just one engine, but in this case it was unable to hold altitude while still getting significant power from the damaged engine.

~snip~

We should point out a couple of things. One, it may have been the first precautionary (can you say emergency) landing due to an engine failure, there have been a number of incidents of rapid, unscheduled stops due to failed gearbox oil cooling systems, as reported in March by the Star-Telegram.

Second, the Marines have acknowledged publicly that they're wearing out V-22 engines far faster than anyone expected, both in the desert sands of Iraq and the far milder climes of the US.


Rest of article and discussion at: http://www.defensetech.org/archives/004298.html?wh=wh

[Crowman1979]

1. With aircraft, the more moving parts there are...

...the bigger problems you get. Hopefully they'll modify this aircraft like they did with the Harrier. Those current engines look like the kind you fit on a C-130, it would be best to use engines designed for actual helicopters. Plus adding a tail wouldn't be a bad idea to maintain stability.

[unhappycamper]

2. It appears they do have a twin tail.

This pic from wikipedia.org -->

[Crowman1979]

3. That may work for the Osprey's horizontal flight functions.

But for vertical flight, I'm not so sure. The Coast Guard's Dolphin helicopter has a tailrotor built into the fin. That would be a compromise.

[jimmil]

4. I know a Col. in the Marines

That was approached to retire from the Marines and be a test pilot on the V-22 for Bell. He declined the offer. He said to me the machine is a death trap. Now since I visited with him (it was many years ago)I am sure things changed in the aircraft but it still is a multi billion dollar boondoggle. It's just another government welfare scam to support large campaign contributers.