In Iraq, Osprey Rocks the Cynics

[unhappycamper]

In Iraq, Osprey Rocks the Cynics
Dallas Morning News | January 07, 2008

ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq - On a clear, cool December morning, two odd-looking military aircraft zip along 8,000 feet above the empty desert of western Iraq, preparing to perform a feat worthy of science fiction.

As the V-22 Ospreys approach their dusty destination, a lonely Marine Corps outpost near the Syrian border, each craft's huge wingtip rotors, now serving as propellers, will steadily tilt upward - and in effect turn the two airplanes into helicopters to land.

Over the past three months, the Osprey's trick of transforming itself has become an everyday sight over Anbar province, where 10 of the Texas-built tiltrotor transports have been flying in a combat zone for the first time in the V-22's tumultuous 24-year history.

So far, the Osprey has defied the dire predictions of its most severe critics. Citing the V-22's record of four crashes and 30 deaths in test flights prior to 2001, some foes of the tiltrotor forecast more crashes and deaths in Iraq.

As of Dec. 28, three months through a scheduled seven-month deployment, the 23 pilots of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, known as VMM-263, had logged 1,639 hours of flight time in Iraq, carried 6,826 passengers and delivered 631,837 pounds of cargo without a mishap or even a close call.


Rest of feel good article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,159482,00.html?wh=wh

[Captain Hilts]

1. How about that? Interesting. nt

[catnhatnh]

2. Hmmm

So 10 brand new aircraft fly an average of 164 hours each divided by 90 days for an average of 1.71 hours per day....all without an accident and the cynics are ROCKED??? With 22 hours a day for maintenance a Fokker triplane could best that record...and it would have been eligible for social security when Reagan was president.....