FH
First, thank you for making a post of that calibur. If you posted like THAT more often without all of the sarcastic insults I think people would respond better.
You wrote a lot and I already posted a loooong response...and for some reason it didnt post and I don't have the patience to do that again. So I mostly want to address the part about the pilots word meaning anyhting.
I have to say that I STRONGLY disagree.
It isn't a question of a pilot loving thier plane and having nothing but good things to say about it. It's a question of these pilots expertise on it's capability to fulfill the mission it was designed for.
I don't know if you understand what a military pilot does versus a commercial pilot. It's not about our planes being "more manly" or something superficial like that. It's that they are experts on thier airframe and thier MISSION. Military aircrew is taught thier misison first, long before they fly the plane. Once they know the mission, then they learn to how to use a tool to accomplish it.
They don't just teach us to fly a plane and then say "go do this". The pilot plans, briefs, and executes the mission. If anyone knows what is going on and is an expert of the mission, it's the pilot/aircrew. Not some general at the top or some other desk officer. They make the battleplans, they put together a "big picture". But these high ranking guys make thier decsions based on the advising of the people who know the mission best: The guys flying and operating in the field.
These pilots on this forum who are telling us what the osprey can do are not doing so blindly. You act as if they went to officer training school, were assigned to the osprey, know nothing else and thus can't have an opinion. That is not the case. Thes pilots have flown multiple airframes for the SAME mission as the Osprey does now. And they are telling us given the choice between flying the old helicopters from before or the v-22...they would take the V-22. Why? Not because it's a fancier more comforatable ride. They would choose it BECAUSE IT CAN ACCOMPLISH THE MISSION FASTER AND BETTER, GET THEM IN AND OUT SAFER, AND PROTECT THIER LOVED ONES BETTER. If they truly thought the Pavelows were better aircraft...they can say so. This is no military rule that denies them the right to say what airframe they prefer. So if they say the osprey is the better tool...that should carry some weight.
They know what the misison is. They know what the old planes could do and what this new one can do. How can you say thier advice is irrelevant or useless?