V-22 Osprey
A tiltrotor that lifts like a helicopter and cruises like an aeroplane, joining two flight regimes in one airframe.
Overview
The Osprey is a tiltrotor that transitions between vertical lift and horizontal cruise by rotating engine nacelles at the wingtips. The aim is to join a helicopter's freedom of landing with a fixed wing's speed and range.
The price of that union is complexity. The transition phase demands a controlled intermediate region between two aerodynamic regimes, and it is the hardest part of both the design and the training.
A tiltrotor is best in no single class: faster than a helicopter but slower than an aeroplane, more flexible than an aeroplane but more complex than a helicopter. Hybrid vehicles usually live with that description.
Details
- Brand
- Bell
- Category
- Tiltrotor
- Body
- Tiltrotor
- Propulsion
- turboşaft
- Produced
- 2007–