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V-22 Integrated Test Team Completes Para-Drop Detachment

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS030228-26
Release Date: 3/2/2003 3:06:00 AM

By Ward Carroll, NAVAIR Public Affairs, V-22

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. (NNS) -- The V-22 Integrated Test Team (ITT) recently completed a series of tests designed to prove the Osprey's utility as an aerial delivery platform.

The ITT took Osprey No. 21 on the road for the "para-drop" detachment, using ranges around Ft. Bragg, N.C. Over the course of three weeks, they added to the program's string of successes since the platform's return to flight in May.

"The airplane worked like a champ," said Gunnery Sgt. Ollie Oliverio, lead crew chief for the detachment, "and the ITT came together as seamless as ever. Whether military, civilian, contractor or support folks, everybody got the job done."

The team logged more than 30 hours of flight time during the detachment. Specific testing included deployment bag (what's left after a paratrooper jumps using a static line) trail tests to see how they reacted in the aircraft's wake, and "hung jumper" tests in both the conversion and airplane modes, using dummies weighing between 150 and 360 pounds and containerized delivery system tests with 500- and 1,000-pound bundles dropped up to four at a time.

In addition to measuring the effects of the air stream on artificial jumpers or items rolled off the aft ramp, the team evaluated the internal equipment, including the rollers, guide rails and vertical retention fittings that make up the Osprey's cargo handling system.

"We never had to touch a single load," Oliverio said. "Once we cut the release gate, the loads smoothly transitioned out of the airplane. The rollers performed as advertised."

After the testing was complete, Osprey No. 21 made a fuel stop at Marine Corps Air Station New River, the base that will be home to Marine Corps V-22s in the near future.

At Naval Air Station Patuxent River, home of the V-22 ITT, the ITT has continued to check off test points.

Osprey No. 7 has made great strides towards proving the capability of the CV-22 variant's multimission radar. Osprey No. 8 is nearing the completion of Phase I of the high rate of descent testing, and both the test pilots and the engineers are pleased with their findings to date. Osprey No. 10 has been proving the V-22's impressive handling characteristics in the low airspeed regime, and Osprey No. 22, the ITT's most recent acquisition and the second LRIP model in the inventory, has been undergoing test modifications intended to get it back to the active test force very soon.

NAVAIR provides advanced warfare technology through the efforts of a seamless, integrated, worldwide network of aviation technology experts.