All U.S. V-22 Osprey Tiltrotors Grounded Again

The only thing wrong with the V-22 is it gets too much media attention. The V-22’s accident rate is no worse than other aircraft and in some comparative cases less as pointed out by astute posters with substantiating facts. Gee a part that’s never broke before…broke, which forced a precautionary landing and it’s time or past time according to some folks to park the aircraft and never use it again given its history of breaking parts, like that’s never happened before.

For what it’s worth, the V-22 has been around for more than 30 years and longer in concept with the Bell XV-15. The downside to its accident rate is the irrefutable fact it can and does take a lot of lives with it when one fully loaded crashes given its troop-carrying capability.

The tilt rotor concept is not the problem. The Marine Corps as its progenitor and primary mission user accepts the operational risk associated with the V-22 for the sake of its unique mission capability same as it does for the latest addition to its inventory of technologically complex VTOL aircraft, the F-35. Risk and complexity of the equipment used are handmaidens that require good engineering to maintain a proper balance.

1 Like