Ken V
You posted:
"3. CG envelope for just about any aircraft is quite limited at max payload. However, CG envelope for lighter payloads is much larger on an inline tandem rotor than either a single rotor or side by side tandem like a tilt rotor. Since 90% or more of missions are performed at well below max payload, that is a significant advantage operationally."
This argument always seemed to show up in CH-47 vs CH-53 foreign sales competitions. The points we always responded with from the SA viewpoint is that one does not spend the millions to fly a big aircraft light, and when the 53 and 47 were loaded up, guess what, the CG ranges were about the same. In fact there were some comparisons where we had a slight ( very ) edge.
Just sayin'