By ANN Correspondent Rob Milford

At the far north end of the static line sits perhaps the second oddest-looking aircraft around. The Wright Flyer would hold first place in that category. In spite of that, the longest line at Kill Devil Hill was to take a quick walk through the aircraft.

It's a V-22 Osprey. The revolutionary tilt rotor wowed the crowds in a 10-minute demo on Monday…for Tuesday, it was back, sitting static, until it wowed the crowd again with a departure pass.

HX-21 is now operating a total of 7 aircraft at the Navy's Patuxtent River Air Station. 2 more are flying with the Air Force flight test program at Edwards AFB, and two more aircraft going through workups at VMX-22 at MCAS New River.

Major Frank Conway was talking to the crowd gathered around the aircraft, answering questions, and ANN listened in for a few minutes as he told the crowd what a "dream job" it was, flying the newest aircraft in the inventory. "I dreamed of being a test pilot years ago, since I was 8 or 9, and went to airshows at Wright-Patterson. After a tour as a CH-46 pilot, then test pilot school, I've got the most awesome job in the entire Marine Corps."

The audience wanted to know about approach speed, and how things have changed with the addition of fixed wing transport pilots to the helo-school of thought: "They were amazed that we did our approaches at 90 knots. They're accustomed to 160 or so, and so now we're holding more speed across the threshold."

What about "those problems" that brought on the accidents a few years back? "They have replaced all the hydraulic lines with titanium lines. They're lighter, and we can run the system at 5,000PSI, and it means we use less fluid. It's turned into a weight savings."

Conway, a Rutgers University grad, just handled one question after another: "Yes, it can auto-rotate. We've done it at altitude, where you put the prop-rotors full back at 96 degrees, and the best estimate now is that we would hit the ground at about 35 knots. We'd be coming down at about 3,500 feet per minute."

The Major, says that he got his first 100 hours in less than 3 months of flying, and that the unit is adding up 70 to 80 hours a week on the fleet. With everything going so well in the unit, morale is up, and additional benefits like safety and quality of life have followed.
Osprey Program Manager Col. Craig Olson says that it's a "tremendous privilege" to be leading this joint effort.  The Air Force academy grad ('82) says he came onboard with .8 hours (yes, that is a point before the number) of rotor time, in a Huey, during test pilot school. He says the Osprey represents "phenomenal engineering." Olson commands the 800 military members from all services involved in the program. The Colonel is also the first from his service to command the Osprey program.

Marine Lt. Col. Kevin Gross was flying in the other seat on the flight to Kitty Hawk on Tuesday. The former Harrier pilot spent a lot of time around MCAS Yuma, with VMA-311, 214 and 211. He tells ANN that every day flying the Osprey he "feels like a kid in the candy store."

FMI: www.navair.mil