John,
Point I was making is that a TR is not more difficult or more dangerous, but it is different, and the tactics are as well. You've got those big proprotors blowing aft in forward flight, and the vector of that changes during transition as well. That's why they normally don't fly directly behind each other. The wake, if you will, is bigger than a comparable conventional helo.
By the same token, though, normally one conventional helo (or ABC) is not going to formate directly under another at close range, whereas with a TR you could, in forward flight.
As has been reported elsewhere, a refueling package is under study for the V-22. It already can normally refuel from a KC-135, which no helo can do, but it also has the speed to act as a tanker for fixed wings, for example USMC's F/A18s and AV-8s. It's still going to have its wake, but that's jsut something that will have to be planned for, just like it is for a -135, -130 or other tnaker. Of course, tanking operations won't be taking place at 500-100 ft. either! Flight testing will find out.
Accidents do happen, but they happen to everything. One of the more famous, for example, was the H-60 crash on Mt. Hood during a rescue attempt. From the video, it looked like a classic case of VRS, but could have also been a tail rotor malfunction.
It's not a matter of a JMR being immune to V-22 proclivities, they are differently sized aircraft performing a different mission. A JMR is not a V-22. It's a smaller aircraft with an optimally sized proprotor. Bell has already said they're looking at ways to reduce downwash in the hover, and that should also benefit the wake. As with anything, you have to make some choices. Do the speed, range and other advantages outweigh other factors that may be more problematical?
An ABC is going to have to answer the same questions, and it's going to have issues of its own. We have very little data on ABC, but a lot on TR. One of the things that came out in V-22 development is our computer models aren't as good as we thoght. We still need to do real flying to get answers and this will be true of ABC as well.
This isn't an anti-ABC rant, BTW. I'm simply saying that TR won't be the only advanced technology for which questions will have to be answered. Frankly, TR and ABC look like the only things to be viable to meet the Army's desires.
Last edited by Commando Cody; 17th Apr 2013 at 00:02.