A new love
I am jet-crazy. I admit this. But I now have a new love…the V-22 Osprey! This thing looks *so* cool and hell, it’s a real-life transformer (well, sort of, haha–it can’t become a car): It’s a helicopter, and the rotors move forward to become a plane, and the two wings/nacelles can folds up on top of the body! It’s such an impressive machine.
Wired has an article today about how it’s been deployed to Iraq amid some controversy. Not sure exactly what the specifics are besides cost and difficulty in actually getting the thing made (which I suspect is typical for any new technology). Apparently the Osprey has been in development since the 80s. I first saw it at the MacDill airshow earlier this year, and had NO idea what it was…it was just a really neat-looking helicopter to me (didn’t have time to grill the pilots). Then I saw it in Transformers, lol, and said hey, there’s that funky helicopter again. Then I saw the article on Wired today, and spent my lunch looking at pics & video of it. I’m so impressed. I hope it’ll be at MacDill again next year. :-)
Hi Cyberdelia,
Glad you like our product. V-22 has been a long time in development, and was recently deployed to Iraq. We hope it will revolutionize the way our troops and supplies are moved around in combat scenarios.
If you get a chance, google BA-609 and take a look at the civilian version. You can have your own tilt-rotor starting about 2010! Projected cost is about 10-12 million.
From your website it looks like you are having fun down there in Florida. Keep on fantasizing, it will keep you young.
Rick Howell
Sr. Design Specialist
V-22 Program
Hi Rick! Don’t know if you’ll see this reply, but thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I find this new machine so fascinating that it’s a pleasure to hear from one of the people responsible for its development! As for the civilian version…if only I could win the lottery, lol! Again thanks for the post and for all your work! :-)