Hello Unctuous,
It’s so nice to see you are back. You got the biggest public spanking since Saddam Hussein in the Gulf war, one that will go down in history. Your cheeks are still obviously glowing RED!! Please tell us why you hid yourself for six months in shame and took six months to return (your last post was 29 May). A little bit morbid of you to return when you see an opportunity to try and twist the facts again. PTIUAE may have been trite to you, if that’s how you describe the guy holding the paddle (along with John Farley, the development test pilot for the Harrier). All of us on PPRune have been waiting for you to reappear. It’s great to have you back. Please tell us what other user names you have been using in the mean time (over the last six months) to hide your identify (those glowing cheeks will always give you away though!) From the length of your posts, you obviously haven’t lost your long windedness. The facts though, still seem to be overridden by your “theories.” Distortion sometimes takes a little extra effort.
Regarding recent accidents, here is some FACTUAL input that has been recently posted:
There is no mystery about the Arizona crash that occurred in April of this year. That accident was investigated and closed by the Marines, the manufacturers, and an independent investigation by NASA. They all came up with the same conclusion: pilot error. The pilot in the lead a/c lost his wings after the investigation. The V-22 developed settling with power due to a rate of descent in excess of 2000 fpm at 285 ft AGL (this is a 57,000lb gross wgt a/c!! – a lot of momentum to stop)! There was a quartering tailwind, 2100ft elevation, and 28 deg C. The pilot violently pulled in MAX power, and pulled FULL aft on the stick, rapidly decreasing a/s and developed the inevitable vortex ring state. Because of the unique side by side rotor configuration, it developed 'asymmetrical’ settling with power. If the wind was directly on the nose or tail, it would have been 'normal' settling with power, but it doesn't matter, they would have all been killed regardless. If you put a CH-46 in the identical scenario, the result would have been the same.
In the 11 ½ years that the V-22 has been flying, there have been four accidents, three of them fatal. The most important fact is that none of them showed tiltrotor technology to be flawed. However, it appears that all of them could have been anticipated and prevented.
Accident 1 (Jun 91): Miswiring of two of the three lateral cyclic inputs, crashed on first flight in a hover (no fatalities). Should have been caught by quality control at many levels.
Accident 2 (July 92): Ingestion of transmission fluid during transition to H-C mode. A simple drain hole could have prevented it.
Accident 3 (Apr 00): Pilot Error (see above).
Accident 4 (Dec 00): – the black boxes will tell. In the mean time, the press will have a field day slinging mud at the military as they all too often do (and Unctuous will join right in).
The bottom line is that the technology is sound and proven -- 4 accidents of a military a/c over 11 ½ years is not out of line with what has been experienced with other a/c, and in fact, it is much better than most. As other professionals in the aviation community keep emphasizing, “we need to keep it all in perspective…”(the Wright Brothers had it much worse than this, but thankfully they didn’t give up!!)
By the way Jim, I am sure you will be posting heavily in an attempt to exonerate yourself, and I must warn you in advance – there will be testimony from your own worst enemy against you – YOURSELF (your earlier posts in this thread, so please try to keep it consistent - thanks)
[This message has been edited by HeliFlight (edited 16 December 2000).]