The company I fly for just picked up a Beechcraft King Air 200 in addition to our 206B, and I am now (presto!) a combination helicopter/fixed-wing pilot. Flying this new aircraft is as interesting as it is instructive. For instance, on short hops when we have to stay down below 10,000 feet, our true airspeed and fuel burn are truly horrible. To get maximum efficiency out of the King Air, we have to take it up high - into the 20's. We typically cruise it at 25,000 feet or above. Of course, we're pressurized so this is no problemo.
And it got me to wondering about the magical V-22. Everybody keeps talking about the wonderful capabilities...how it's "this times" faster than a helicopter, or carries "this much" more than a helicopter, and has "this much" more range.
Oh really?
Well, what altitudes are these comparisons done at? How does a V-22 carry 24 Marines on a long, fast flight? Can it even do that? V-22 proponents say that it'll carry this much "load" over a given distance. But what if that "load" is soldiers? Will they have to wear oxygen masks and cold-weather gear if their destination is ultimately a hot desert? What are we, back in WWII B-17's?
I guess what I'm getting at is this: What is the real world performance of the V-22? What if it has to stay below 10,000 feet due to passenger considerations? How fast it is below 10,000? What is the fuel burn below 10,000 feet? How far can it go at that speed and fuel burn?
We often get bamboozled by the manufacturer's hype. Figures lie and liars figure. Yes, I'm sure the V-22 has amazing capabilities...that it can fly very high and very fast and very far. But can it do all of that together with two dozen living, breathing human beings onboard?
To wit: On this much-ballyhooed recent 147-mile medevac flight from the Bataan, what altitude did they fly at and at what airspeed? And the big question - just how much "better than a helicopter" was that?