Originally Posted by
SplineDrive
It's still easy to get surprised by bird strike testing... I saw what a 2.2 lb bird did to rotor controls and spinner supports at only 75 knots. The V-280 in the conversion corridor can go fast enough in near VTOL mode for a bird to do real damage. Obviously not a show stopper like CTR points out, but it's not a requirement you just hand wave away on a production vehicle.
t.
I concur. My friends from the 609 program are the same engineers that oversaw the V-280 system installations, and they followed the same bird strike survivability design requirements as for an FAA certified aircraft.
The XV-15 actually suffered a bird strike to the wing leading edge by a turkey buzzard weighing an estimated 10 lbs that took out the torque shaft connecting the two conversion actuators. Luckily the engineers back then planned for that event and installed a backup system that decluched the shaft. The bird actually passed through the rotor before striking the leading edge.