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Why did the half-plane, half-helicopter not work?

bbc.co.uk

1–10 of 17 posts

Re: Why did the half-plane, half-helicopter not work?

#5
post #2

Hmm, I'd say that V22 Osprey does work. It's still a compromise and a full heli or full plane is better suited for most tasks but a hybrid does have its use.

This graph shows how much better the Osprey's tiltrotor design is compared to the Fairey Rotodyne's compound design:

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/dae/articles/communiques/AW...

Re: Why did the half-plane, half-helicopter not work?

#6
post #2

Hmm, I'd say that V22 Osprey does work. It's still a compromise and a full heli or full plane is better suited for most tasks but a hybrid does have its use.

there are times where the V22 looks straight out of a science fiction movie. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/3rd_Batt...

Re: Why did the half-plane, half-helicopter not work?

#7
post #2

Hmm, I'd say that V22 Osprey does work. It's still a compromise and a full heli or full plane is better suited for most tasks but a hybrid does have its use.

Eh. The total cost of its program ($35.6 billion) almost came to exactly $1 billion per death incurred by accidents during its testing from 1991-2000(36 fatalities). All that money and life spent on a somewhat functional newly minted freedom boner.

Re: Why did the half-plane, half-helicopter not work?

#8
post #2

Hmm, I'd say that V22 Osprey does work. It's still a compromise and a full heli or full plane is better suited for most tasks but a hybrid does have its use.

Eh. The total cost of its program ($35.6 billion) almost came to exactly $1 billion per death incurred by accidents during its testing from 1991-2000(36 fatalities). All that money and life spent on a somewhat functional newly minted freedom boner.

I don't think "death per budget" is a meaningful metric, unless talking about weapons or serial killers. You can't just take two numbers we want to minimize, divide one by another, and claim significance.

Re: Why did the half-plane, half-helicopter not work?

#9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh. The total cost of its program ($35.6 billion) almost came to exactly $1 billion per death incurred by accidents during its testing from 1991-2000(36 fatalities). All that money and life spent on a somewhat functional newly minted freedom boner.

I don't think "death per budget" is a meaningful metric, unless talking about weapons or serial killers. You can't just take two numbers we want to minimize, divide one by another, and claim significance.

Multiplying them would be more meaningful.

Re: Why did the half-plane, half-helicopter not work?

#10
post #2

Hmm, I'd say that V22 Osprey does work. It's still a compromise and a full heli or full plane is better suited for most tasks but a hybrid does have its use.

That was my first thought as well (off the title alone), and I'm somewhat surprised the article didn't mention the Osprey at least in passing.

I mean, you can certainly argue that the program was not worth the cost in money or lives lost (as is already being done in this subthread), but ultimately the thing works -- as someone who lives in San Diego, I see them flying overhead multiple times per week.

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