Dan:
Having flown a variety of aircraft procured under the general rubric of minimum bid (which as I see it is all I ever flew, with exception of the T-28), I have a reflexive habit of taking anything an aircraft manufacturer says with a grain of salt. It helps that I've never been contaminated by working for an aircraft manufacturer.
As for contamination: having been in the production end of things that I saw later in the press (while in the military) and knowing what I know, I also take with a grain of salt pretty much anything a spokseman in the armed services says. Some of the remarks I see from the field in re the V-22 look a bit, shall we say, manufactured. I had a few issues with 21st century's remarks some months ago about how quiet an Osprey is. (Having seen actual Ospreys in flight in Fort Worth a few years back, I noted that they make noise. There's a shocker ... )
Are you as critical of Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation's public utterances as you are of Bell's utterances? I'll ask for an honest assessment.
V-22: it's operating. The operators appear to like it, but for most of them, they don't get to choose another aircraft if they don't like it.
