You're right, SAS. It's not about personalities, it's about the V-22. Or should be. mcpave makes a big deal about people pretending to be experts at this or that - he claims that nobody who hasn't flown the V-22 could possibly know anything about it. He denies what's been written, published and testified about the machine without (until his most recent post) providing ANY substantive information at all. Just a screeching, "YOU GUYS ARE WRONG!"
Well, who the hell is "mcpave?" Let's find out, shall we? Take my hand as we stroll down memory lane. mcpave joined PPRUNE in 2001. However, his first post was not until 2002. In a thread about formation flying, the very first line of mcpave's very first PPRUNE post reads:
I've flown a ton of formation, pretty much standard operations for my line of work.
Oh? And what line of work would that be? Hard to tell, for his profile is blank and he does not give us any information as to who he is or what he does. We're just supposed to take him at his word that he's done a "ton" of formation flying.
mcpave's second appearance on PPRUNE comes in 2003 in a thread about helicopter air-to-air refueling. The very first line of his very first post in the thread reads:
I've done quite a bit of helo air refueling, it's a unique capability pretty much monopolized by the US right now.
Gee, for someone who doesn't like people acting all expert and stuff, mcpave sure does exactly that!
Now he's an expert on the V-22.
Look, this is an anonymous internet forum - one of thousands. Anybody can be anyone they want here. If mcpave wants us to think he's a V-22 driver now, fine. Maybe he is, maybe he ain't. But it's kind of...I don't know...stupid(?) for some anonymous internet weenie to righteously claim credibility while attacking the credibility of those who actually put their identitites up for all to see.
Me? My real name is in my profile. I began flying in 1973, cutting school to hike out to Zahn's Airport on Long Island to take lessons in a beat-up Piper Cherokee. I've been flying commercially since 1982. I've got 11,000 hours, most all of that in helicopters, most all of that in Bell 206's (or it's ugly cousin, the overweight, skinny-blade, underpowered BO105). If there's ONE thing I'm expert at, it's coaxing every ounce of lift out of a rotor system of a helicopter that is at or over MGW. I am who I am. You want my cell phone number? 850-512-2663. (I've published my phone number before in case anyone wanted to discuss something I've written. No one has ever called.)
I don't attack the V-22 simply to attack guys like mcpave. For a whole bunch of reasons I think it's the wrong aircraft at the wrong time for the very wrong price. But the V-22 community takes criticism of "their" aircraft very, very personally. Then they "go underground" and refuse to provide information that might counter some of the confusing, outdated information that's out there. Then they blame guys like me for not knowing the "truth" because I haven't flown the thing. Uhhh....yeah.
Case in point, why did it take so long for someone to publish a current copy of the V-22 AFM with respect to maneuvering limitations? Obviously they have changed, as things do in aviation. But instead of providing them, the "V-22 community" merely shouted, "YOU'RE WRONG!" and wanted us to take them at their dubious, anonymous word. Yeah, right. Or they try to cloud the issue by making it personal and attacking the critics.
"You've never flown the V-22, Bob. How would you know ANYTHING about it??" I might turn that question around and ask it of mcpave: Have YOU ever flown it in combat?
I suspect that the USMC needs the V-22 in a very profound way. I suspect that without it and the capability it gives that particular branch of the armed forces, the American people might legitimately question why we need the Marine Corps at all!
Do we really need FOUR branches of the service? Even SASless alluded to it recently - we won't be storming anymore beaches like in WWII. So what does the Marine Corps do? Can't their job be done just as effectively by the Army and Navy?
Not as long as the Marine Corps has the V-22!
The Marines must think that money is unlimited - that there is an unending supply for ridiculous programs like the V-22 *and* every other thing that the USMC needs. Heh. The military should keep in mind that the U.S. is...still...a country run by civilians. And ironically, what may ultimately kill the V-22 is not the inherent deficiency of the design but the overall cost.