thedrifter
05-06-06, 08:27 AM
Osprey damage investigation changes initial reports
May 06,2006
ROSELEE PAPANDREA
DAILY NEWS STAFF
by chris mazzolini
A mishap that seriously damaged a MV-22 Osprey at New River Air Station in March remains under investigation but may be concluding soon.
An Osprey — a tiltroter aircraft that can fly and take off like a helicopter or a plane — was going through a routine post-maintenance check March 27 when the engines suddenly pushed enough power into the aircraft’s twin turbines to lift it off the ground. It lifted about 6 feet in the air before coming down on its landing gear.
Initial reports that the aircraft lifted 30 feet into the air were incorrect, said James Darcy, a spokesman for the Osprey program.
No one was injured.
Upon touchdown, the right wing snapped off where it meets the fuselage, and the wing and nacelle came to rest on the ground. Darcy said this was designed to happen in the event of a crash in order to protect the people inside from the weight of the wings crushing down into the fuselage.
The accident was dubbed a “Class A” mishap, which means costs will exceed $1 million. No further cost estimates have been released.
Darcy said the safety feature is expensive but protects those riding inside.
“In the grand scheme of things, we don’t care about the hardware as much as we care about the people,” he said.
An aircraft mishap board is currently investigating the incident, the details of which will not be available until it is released, Darcy said.
“We normally don’t get into the discussions of the details of the mechanics of the incident itself until that investigation is concluded,” he said. “We don’t know exactly where the problem is. The engine was not doing what the crew was telling it to do.”
The answers may not be far off. The investigation is reportedly nearing completion. A source close to the Osprey program that has seen the findings declined to get into specifics, but said the investigation concludes that the accident is not a problem with the Osprey’s technology, nor did it result from mistakes made by the air crew.
While the cause of the accident has not been released, some details of what happened have been.
According to a briefing prepared by the Osprey program office, the incident involved a so-called “high-side” failure: the engines pumped too much power to the rotors, which caused lift-off. The computer and software that controls the engines (“full authority digital engine control” or FADEC) recognized the problem and handed over engine control to the backup FADEC, which corrected it and brought the aircraft back to earth.
“That first FADEC is in the loop of this problem,” Darcy said. “It reports, ‘Something is not right here.’ The backup says: ‘No problem. I’m going to step in and take over.’ ”
That process took only 2.5 seconds, and returned the Osprey to the ground before the pilots could react. The fix for this particular problem may be to improve the FADEC software. Darcy said that speeding up the response time of the backup system could keep the aircraft on the ground if another “high-side” failure occurred.
Training flights continued after the mishap because military officials determined it was safe to do so. Until the software can be improved, pilots are being told to deal with a “high-side” failure by shutting down the engines while on the ground and by increasing the rotor pitch to maintain flight if in the air. Instructors have also been able to re-create the situation on flight simulators so pilots can practice.
The $71 million Osprey has had a troubled, and highly publicized, history. Two fatal crashes in 2000 — the first in April when 19 Marines died after the craft went down in Arizona, the second in December when four New River Marines were killed after it crashed in the woods north of Jacksonville — threatened to ground the Osprey for good.
But after a successful evaluation, the Pentagon approved full production of the Osprey in September. The Marine Corps is expected to receive 360 Ospreys, while the Air Force is slated to get 50 and the Navy another 48.
The first operational Osprey Squadron, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, stood up at New River in March. They are expected to be combat ready sometime in 2007.
Contact staff writer Chris Mazzolini at cmazzolini@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, ext. 229.
Ellie
May 06,2006
ROSELEE PAPANDREA
DAILY NEWS STAFF
by chris mazzolini
A mishap that seriously damaged a MV-22 Osprey at New River Air Station in March remains under investigation but may be concluding soon.
An Osprey — a tiltroter aircraft that can fly and take off like a helicopter or a plane — was going through a routine post-maintenance check March 27 when the engines suddenly pushed enough power into the aircraft’s twin turbines to lift it off the ground. It lifted about 6 feet in the air before coming down on its landing gear.
Initial reports that the aircraft lifted 30 feet into the air were incorrect, said James Darcy, a spokesman for the Osprey program.
No one was injured.
Upon touchdown, the right wing snapped off where it meets the fuselage, and the wing and nacelle came to rest on the ground. Darcy said this was designed to happen in the event of a crash in order to protect the people inside from the weight of the wings crushing down into the fuselage.
The accident was dubbed a “Class A” mishap, which means costs will exceed $1 million. No further cost estimates have been released.
Darcy said the safety feature is expensive but protects those riding inside.
“In the grand scheme of things, we don’t care about the hardware as much as we care about the people,” he said.
An aircraft mishap board is currently investigating the incident, the details of which will not be available until it is released, Darcy said.
“We normally don’t get into the discussions of the details of the mechanics of the incident itself until that investigation is concluded,” he said. “We don’t know exactly where the problem is. The engine was not doing what the crew was telling it to do.”
The answers may not be far off. The investigation is reportedly nearing completion. A source close to the Osprey program that has seen the findings declined to get into specifics, but said the investigation concludes that the accident is not a problem with the Osprey’s technology, nor did it result from mistakes made by the air crew.
While the cause of the accident has not been released, some details of what happened have been.
According to a briefing prepared by the Osprey program office, the incident involved a so-called “high-side” failure: the engines pumped too much power to the rotors, which caused lift-off. The computer and software that controls the engines (“full authority digital engine control” or FADEC) recognized the problem and handed over engine control to the backup FADEC, which corrected it and brought the aircraft back to earth.
“That first FADEC is in the loop of this problem,” Darcy said. “It reports, ‘Something is not right here.’ The backup says: ‘No problem. I’m going to step in and take over.’ ”
That process took only 2.5 seconds, and returned the Osprey to the ground before the pilots could react. The fix for this particular problem may be to improve the FADEC software. Darcy said that speeding up the response time of the backup system could keep the aircraft on the ground if another “high-side” failure occurred.
Training flights continued after the mishap because military officials determined it was safe to do so. Until the software can be improved, pilots are being told to deal with a “high-side” failure by shutting down the engines while on the ground and by increasing the rotor pitch to maintain flight if in the air. Instructors have also been able to re-create the situation on flight simulators so pilots can practice.
The $71 million Osprey has had a troubled, and highly publicized, history. Two fatal crashes in 2000 — the first in April when 19 Marines died after the craft went down in Arizona, the second in December when four New River Marines were killed after it crashed in the woods north of Jacksonville — threatened to ground the Osprey for good.
But after a successful evaluation, the Pentagon approved full production of the Osprey in September. The Marine Corps is expected to receive 360 Ospreys, while the Air Force is slated to get 50 and the Navy another 48.
The first operational Osprey Squadron, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, stood up at New River in March. They are expected to be combat ready sometime in 2007.
Contact staff writer Chris Mazzolini at cmazzolini@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, ext. 229.
Ellie