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Definitely a European-market-specific innovation. They don't like AvGas, and have a much weaker general aviation market, so Jet A and the like are much easier to find.

Go to the beach and take classes, so it’s not a complete lost year. If there’s a chance to go to AMO school, do it. Back in the bad old days, some folks got to do IOC, which is a bad time but a good deal.

I’ve never had an engine failure, per se. One of my squadronmates had one after a mech left a rag in a fuel cell. In airplane mode, you’ll be fine at most weights. You’re unlikely to hover OEI unless practically empty, so you’re going to want to either burn or dump fuel, then roll on to a...

Fair points, though the rumor mill says that Sikorsky was not confident in the Defiant’s auto capability. They let helo guys assume it could do that, but you’d think if it were a strength of the design relative to tiltrotors they’d be shouting it from the rooftops. That the actual autos were...

This is the kind of BS 80YO sim instructors peddle. I don't work for Bell anymore, so this is mostly unbiased. "Shooting war?" What in the everloving fuck are you talking about? The V-22 was continuously in Iraq and/or Afghanistan from 2007 until our withdrawal two years ago. It's been shot at...

Yes. But it's not necessarily linked with FVL as the Army and Marine Corps see it.

Wow A decade-old zombie thread revived to give PP73 (long gone to IWAGR) a comeuppance?

I should have said IFR, vice IMC. My larger point was that helo guys often treat IFR as some kind of white knuckle exercise that one is lucky to survive, and that you certainly need two guys to get through. With the right configuration, and flight planning, IFR should practically be rest time...

My contention is that you should be able to fly SPIFR in a rotorcraft with the right flight control and instrument package. There’s no longer much that’s substantially more difficult in a helo that necessitates another pilot, assuming you can reach everything n

The technology does make a difference--flying IFR in the V-22 was cake, especially compared to the CH-46, where keeping it upright was actually an issue. Coming back from a mission and going into the CCA for recovery was SO much less nerve-wracking than sneaking in under the goo. IFR is a good...

When we say "saved by the second pilot," do we mean something like "PAC got vertigo" or "PAC died?" The first one should be less of a factor as controls improve. Why aren't F/W guys going into unusual attitudes in IMC, where they spend 70% of their time? The second one is something we can put...

We’ve had 20 years of more or less continuous tactical helicopter ops. There should be enough data out there to see how many aircraft would’ve crashed but for the second pilot taking over for an incapacitated PAC.

I'd like to see the real risk analysis on, "Well what if the HAC has a heart attack or gets shot on short final?" Something performed after 1973. The advantages of reducing crew are so great, that someone needs to actually figure out how likely it is, vice community "what ifs." 10 to the -6 or...

Helos are still in the mindset of the stab-bar Hueys, where taking your hands off the stick for a moment was just to take your life in your hands. Each generation is less like that, but the cockpits and accompanying training are built around a 2 pilot mindset, even when they don't need to be...

There aren’t “gunners” in Marine AH-1s. The front position is usually occupied by the copilot and the rear by the aircraft commander, thought that’s not mandatory and can be switched for training. There are some layout differences between the seats, but the aircraft can be flown and the...

That’s an identified problem with a lot of cool and exotic UAS designs. They work great up to Group 3, but making them big enough to carry significant payloads is very challenging/nearly impossible. Group 4/5 UAS are real aircraft. You either need to take the people out of an existing airframe...

That mock-up is of the USMC MUX variant. It was later sized down for the USN Maritime Strike.

The last line is the key one. The DDG requirement is what is killing any chance to do that. Your manned FVL designs don't fit, whether tiltrotor- or blender-based. That leaves you with other helicopters, none of which represent big improvements (I don't know why people have stuck on...

FARA was FVL. It just wasn't very ambitious FVL. This doesn't affect anything for the Navy. I don't think it was ever in the market for a 2-man scout helo designed for NOE. As long as the Navy is wedded to the DDG it will be stuck with the 60 and perhaps some type of UAS to fly off its deck...

Yes, T/R counts as fixed-wing for the purposes of the airlines now. Didn't used to, putting T/R folks like me in a tough spot a few years back, since it didn't count as helo time either. The "powered lift" is widely accepted in commercial fixed wing, as long as you have the other requisite FAA...

Can’t read the article, but a year is completely unworkable from platform, personnel, and operational perspectives. That’s why you need exit criteria—to avoid rank speculation.

Red stripes should always have exit criteria. “Down until we find these defective parts.” “Down until this airframe change is incorporated.” Doing this before knowing the cause is profoundly unwise.

Neither aircraft’s screens will be as big as the concept art. Think of those as priming the idea factory for future capabilities. MILSPECs and military airworthiness standards are still in effect. They’ll be bigger than what most Navy/MC are used to, but will still be a screen with bezel keys...

Imagine what it would be with a real helicopter!

Can you imagine being 84 and keeping up with a 10YO? F that noise, man.

Oof. Anything in particular or just speaking generally?

Damn good summary of the best and the worst.

There are other aircraft with composite materials with perfectly decent IPS. While a blade burn is bad, the MTBF on the blade IPS is still abysmal. That's more a function of a design that dates to the 1980s. Each wire is hand-laid into the blade, leading to quality escapes. There are a lot of...

Or anywhere…if you actually are flying tactically, your patches should all be removed.

One of the key elements of FVL is maintaining MOSA—Modular Open Systems Approach. The whole idea is to make adding new gear much more like adding an app to your phone than a massive integration problem

Fair enough. There are some on this board who really think things are simpler than they are, though.

It's not that simple when you're dealing with $85M flying computers that need to talk to other flying computers securely, and have to be built to talk with equipment that doesn't exist yet. Most of the issues with today's equipment aren't about the user-level properties or capabilities of the...

No one is buying Gripen because it doesn’t fit into anyone’s defense requirements besides the Swedes’. I don’t disagree that you can employ different management techniques to iterate more quickly. There have been moves to make requirements capability based instead of platform based to help this...

Probably because it shares mission computers with the UH-1Y.

You’re just talking about a different prototyping concept. That’s something OTAs do already. That’s not getting rid of requirements. You still need something to anchor on. You still need something to say,”This equipment needs to defeat threat X while carrying Y pounds.” Those are tied into...

Not against the laws of physics, really, just difficult and expensive. But a failure of the technology assessment, not of the idea of having requirements. They help integrate the force—e.g. you need helicopters that carry X number of people, so you need Y of them to transport a Marine company...

What does that mean? Describe how you plan major programs and capabilities 10-20 years out without identifying what requirements need filling. How is anyone supposed to build anything without knowing what the need is? Do you need something that carries 10 people or 100? Does it need to go 10...

Why would you ask Bell? The Navy sets requirements. It’s not let contractors dream things up. They respond to what the military asks for.

Why wouldn’t it have a FLIR? That’s factory-standard equipment for V-22s. You never know when it’ll come in handy.

I was travelling with an AA Concierge Key and we got a black Suburban from gate to gate at LaGuardia.

You convert before firing. The nacelles move at 11 deg/second in a V-22, and you only have to move them halfway up.

Aircraft in this size category typically don’t have ramps. They’re heavy and need hydraulics. They’re great for vehicles and pallets. Not so great for people. I don’t think a ramp would be faster than sliding doors, even if you could somehow make a ramp fit in this configuration. Why doesn’t...

It’s smaller and a little bit faster. The V-22 has a Vne of 280. The 280 hit over 300 in level flight and that was with a smaller engine than the production aircraft will have. Lower disc loading and having a side door for hoist ops will make overwater rescues a little easier than in the CV.

The reliability and maintainability aspects are probably more important, but yes, the reason the V-22 never got guns on the side was because the nacelles block a LOT of view out the sides. Especially with a side door aircraft, opening up the egress area has huge benefits for both troops and...

I think it’s entirely premature to say there’s a “problem” to be solved at all. What problem? As mentioned previously, the Osprey’s PCA is completely exposed in VTOL mode and there are no flight restrictions related to it.

The thing is, I said there’s nothing there a couple times, and we keep going around this barn. Then someone else pipes up saying someone will have to die for it to be fixed. For what to be fixed? Not everything that moves needs to be deiced or have a protective fairing. That’s true of all...

412. To keep coming back to the gap without something more specific is just getting ridiculous. Do you really think that after 10 years and over a billion dollars, the engineers are slapping their foreheads and saying “You mean it needs to fly OUTDOORS?!?” The pylon conversion actuator and...

What did you fix, exactly? You're still making the same claim without evidence or rationale that you did before.

They had all sorts of crazy concepts for missions back then. Ironically, new technology makes some of them far more practical, including ASW. The Marines recently experimented dropping sonobuoys from a V-22. That said, the Navy bought just enough for COD. If they decide to take on more...

What issues, exactly? You say this as though someone has articulated an actual possible malfunction mode, vice “Yup, looks like there’s a hole down there or somethin’. Sure looks funny to me.”