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

I disagree. There are several problems with the tilt rotor concept, and especially as implemented by the V22. 1) All of that rotating, gyroscopic mass causes a great deal of stress on components that a traditional helicopter or prop-driven aircraft does not receive, 2) The V22 cannot takeoff or land like an aircraft due to ground clearance with the prop-rotors, so it has to takeoff/land more like a helicopter, 3) But, it can’t auto-rotate like a helicopter either, so the transmission and driveshaft is a single point of failure, and it absoutely needs at least one engine to be operative, 4) All that mass out on the ends of each wingtip also has a lot of inertia, which doesn’t help with stability, especially if one engine is even momentarily creating more or less power than the other, 5) The disc loading of the prop-rotors is much higher than a same-sized helicopter, so the downwash is much greater and can kick up a lot more debris during takeoff and landing, 6) Also, with the whole engine tilting, that hot exhaust does more damage to the ground than a helicopter would. This means in some cases, a helicopter could get in and out of an area that the V22 cannot safely do.

Now, the tilt-rotor concept is a neat-sounding one on paper, and the V22 is an impressive air vehicle to see flying in person (which I have). But considering all of the complexities of its operation and the forces acting on it during transition flight, you’ll never convince me to get on board one unless it will be remaining on the ground.