Air Force CV-22 resumes flight testing

9/13/2002 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- The Air Force's CV-22 tiltrotor aircraft resumed flight tests in the skies over Edwards Sept. 11. The aircraft's successful return to flight comes after meeting the recommendations of several independent investigations and military review panels.

All CV-22 flight tests were halted after a December 2000 crash of a Marine MV-22 Osprey grounded the entire V-22 fleet. This resulted in a series of reviews including the Defense Department's blue ribbon panel of defense and industry experts.

Since then, a diverse team of engineers, pilots, maintainers and program officials from Naval Air Systems Command, Air Force Special Operations Command and the V-22 integrated test teams, along with contractors Bell, Boeing and Rolls Royce, have been working together to restructure the V-22 program, bringing it in line with the defense and industry recommendations.

Members of the CV-22 Integrated Test Force have gone above and beyond their typical flight test role in returning the CV-22 to flight, said Maj. Greg Weber, the government's CV-22 flight test director here.

"We have been hands-on in the rigorous design and implementation of the corrections to those deficiencies identified by the review panels -- mainly electrical and hydraulic line clearances and improved maintenance access to the nacelles," said Weber. "Today, the CV-22 complies with every one of the blue ribbon panel recommendations, applying more stringent line clearance requirements across the entire platform." Weber said that not only has test force worked out all mechanical, electrical and software discrepancies but also has a phased delivery plan to return an even safer and more capable aircraft to the fleet.

"The Air Force Flight Test Center wants to restore confidence in the CV-22 and deliver a safe, reliable and operationally suitable aircraft," said Weber.

During the initial flights, the two-pilot test crew conducted several runway landing patterns and put the aircraft into a hover to test its rotor track and balance. Later in the day, the test team returned to the air and successfully converted the aircraft to airplane mode.

These initial test flights are designed to shakedown the aircraft after its long modification period and will continue over the next few weeks, said CV-22 chief test pilot Marty Shubert of Bell Helicopter, who piloted the CV-22 on its return to flight. The flights are also providing pilot recurrency training for the CV-22 test crews, Shubert added.

"All of our initial test flights are part of a methodical and event-driven test flight program to validate engineering and software changes and to further test the capabilities of this aircraft to carry out its intended missions," said Shubert.

The tilt-rotor aircraft fills a long-standing U.S. Special Operations Command and Air Force requirement to conduct long-range insertion and extraction missions in one period of darkness. The CV-22 has twice the altitude and speed, and three-to-five times the range of current aircraft used in special operations.

After the successful flights, the commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center here, Maj. Gen. Doug Pearson, said he was proud of the dedication and hard work demonstrated by the CV-22 Integrated Test Force in returning the aircraft to flight.

"The team used good discipline to make all of the modifications necessary to get the CV-22 back into the air," Pearson said. "I'm looking forward to completing developmental tests on this aircraft and seeing what the CV-22 system has to offer."

Today, there are two CV-22 aircraft at Edwards AFB participating in the engineering and manufacturing development stage of development. Air Force procurement plans call for two additional production representative test vehicles to be delivered in fiscal year 2005 with initial operational test and evaluation to follow at Edwards.

The return to flight and subsequent flight testing will assist senior defense leaders in making a final determination about the system's viability and procurement.