Warning light prompts crew to ground V-22 Osprey aircraft

[Roger Williams] said the aircraft, which can take off like a helicopter then tilt its rotors forward to fly like an airplane, had just left the Bell facility on a test flight when the warning light went off. Williams said the incident was not a major problem for the Osprey. The Osprey has had a tro...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inKnight Ridder Tribune Business News p. 1
Main Author Cunningham, Greg
Format Newsletter
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington Tribune Content Agency LLC 09.08.2005
Subjects
Aboulafia, Richard
Aircraft
Airports
Aviation
Mirrors
Williams, Roger
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:[Roger Williams] said the aircraft, which can take off like a helicopter then tilt its rotors forward to fly like an airplane, had just left the Bell facility on a test flight when the warning light went off. Williams said the incident was not a major problem for the Osprey. The Osprey has had a troubled past, crashing four times and killing 30 people, but changes to the aircraft and the passage of a major testing initiative led the Marines to give the go-ahead last month for the Osprey to join the fleet. The Pentagon's Defense Acquisition Board on Sept. 27 is set to consider giving Bell the green light to ramp up production of the Osprey. [Richard Aboulafia] said any aircraft as complex as the Osprey is bound to run into a few glitches on test flights. The warning lights could indicate anything from a simple malfunction with the warning light to an assembly problem, but is much more likely to be the former than the latter, he said.