Test Team Touts Canadian Hospitality as Factor in Mission
Success
Osprey No. 24 returned
to NAS Patuxent River on the afternoon of April 29 after spending
six months conducting aircraft icing tests from Canadian Forces
Base Shearwater near Halifax, Nova Scotia. During the detachment,
Osprey No. 24 logged 67 hours, 37 of which were in actual icing
conditions.
The accumulation of ice on flight control surfaces has always
been a potential hazard to aviators. The rapid buildup of ice on
wings can dramatically change an aircraft's flight characteristics,
in extreme cases rendering it unable to fly. Generally, pilots
don't fly in ice. Because of the nature of the V-22's mission -
rapidly getting combat troops and supplies where they are needed -
Osprey crews may not always have the luxury of avoiding bad
weather. As a result, the Osprey has a requirement for a robust and
capable ice detection and anti-ice system.
"The prototype icing system worked better than expected," said
Maj. Frank Conway, USMC, who, along with Chief Corporate Test Pilot
Tom Macdonald, flew all of the icing test flights. "Other than
tweaking the algorithms that control when the wing boots inflate to
remove ice and at what temperature heat is sent out to the
prop-rotors, there was very little redesigning of the system done
while we were in Halifax." Maj. Conway noted that the only major
configuration change engineers are investigating is where to move
the icing detection probe to provide the timeliest feedback to the
pilots.
"The detachment was extremely successful," said Don Byrne, who
alternated Integrated Test Team Flight Test Director
responsibilities with the ITT's Paul Gambacorta. "We cleared all
temperature and liquid water content ranges, so now we're able to
fly for extended periods of time in all weather conditions."
Maj. Conway was quick
to attribute much of the ITT's success to their Canadian hosts:
"They treated us like their own for the duration of our time there.
The facilities and parts support were fantastic. The weather briefs
were dead on. When we were airborne the controllers would give us
real-time weather updates and did everything in their power to help
us find ice to fly in. They kept us from wasting any time."
The team will return to Shearwater next November for another six
months, focusing on longer flights in icing conditions, failure
modes, helicopter mode flight, and the overall performance and
reliability of the production configuration of the anti-ice system.
Maj. Conway was sanguine about the prospect of another lengthy
period away from Pax. "I look at my time back in Maryland as a det
away from my new home in Canada," he said with a laugh. "Being away
is always a challenge, but the hospitality of the Canadians
combined with an opportunity for more successful testing make that
much easier."
"Our goal out of the next period is to have a system in place
that fully meets the V-22 system design specifications," said Col.
Craig Olson, USAF, V-22 Joint Program Manager. "When we're done,
Osprey crews will have an anti-ice system with capabilities shared
by very few rotorcraft." [ANN Thanks Ward Carroll NAVAIR (V-22)
Public Affairs Officer]