I had the privelege of a couple of sessions in a V-22 fixed base sim sateside earlier this year, and it was impressive. The PFD goves you LOTS of cues that you may be about to enter a high sink-rate situation and an audible warning if the descent rate gets too high. Also, the nacelles can be tilted quite far forward of the vertical while maintaining adequate ground clearance, which allows short takeoffs and landings to be performed. My background is fixed wing and I found it quite easy to hover. Transition was also a non-event in handling terms, the FCS seemed well sorted.
It seems a lot of people on this thread have criticised the V-22 without actually having had anything to do with it. My advice would be keep your badly informed (or utterly ignorant) comments to yourself. Yes it is expensive, yes it has some unique vulnerabilities due to its unique design, but if a mission needs a VTOL aircraft with long range and high speed transit, it will outperform conventional helos by a big margin. I await with interest reports on how it does in Iraq, and hope it does well.
As for people who think you can get out of VR using collective - I NEVER EVER want to be in a helicopter with you
