Friday, April 13, 2007
When contractors are valued more than troops
You get the deployment to Iraq of an airplane most noted for its ability to kill Marines in bunches. With the end of the Iraq fiasco looming with the end of Our Dear Embattled Leader's reign, the Boeing-Bell/Textron combine was champing at the bit to get their overpriced and undercapable V-22 Osprey into the action. The Pentagon finally relented, but not without major limits to how it may be used. One limit is that it not be used in a hot LZ.
The only good thing Dick Cheney ever did in his life was to try and kill the Osprey program. Even he couldn't do it.
The plane’s most widely cited design problem is that one of its propellers can get caught in its own turbulence as it comes in for a landing, and that can cause the V-22 to roll over and head into the ground.And, if that isn't enough to keep it safe at home consider this.
For that reason, V-22 pilots are trained to steer clear of their own turbulence by rules prohibiting them from making the quick maneuvers used by helicopters to evade enemy fire. Instead, the V-22 must land at speeds as slow as nine miles an hour and in a fairly straight line....
...Should the V-22 lose power, it can not “autorotate” like a helicopter and allow the updraft of air to rotate its propellers for a hard, but survivable, landing. Because of this, according to the 2005 Pentagon report, emergency V-22 landings without power at altitudes below 1,600 feet “are not likely to be survivable.”
In preparation for deployment, the Pentagon ran tests last year in the New Mexico desert, similar to the climate of Iraq. In January, the Pentagon wrote about frequent failures with various parts and systems. The reason: “Extended exposure to the desert operating environment.”Sounds like it will be a real big hit in Iraq, 24 Marines at a time.
The only good thing Dick Cheney ever did in his life was to try and kill the Osprey program. Even he couldn't do it.
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