Zero, actually.

Nailed it!

I’m not sure where you got those ideas, but that’s far from correct both on the dynamics of the V-22 and behavior of rotorcraft operating above wildfires.

Actually, its being used almost everywhere.

It is literally the most in-demand rotorcraft in the USMC inventory.

Exactly how much do you think a CH-53K is costing, btw?

300,000 flight hours of operation and guess how many V-22s have crashed due to autorotation limitations (i.e. not below an H-V curve where even a conventional helicopter wouldn’t have the altitude or airspeed to achieve autorotation)?

If the conversion was remotely feasible I would consider it, but with new (B9+) models I don’t think that will really be an option based on all the major computer and electrical differences.

Challenge to Germany: sell some of your cars with manual transmissions in the USA again.

I’ll buy more of them. Seriously.

I am an A5 coupe owner in the USA, and when I was in Bavaria last year, the ONLY A5s I saw were sportbacks.

Literally, I think I may have seen one A5 coupe. Maybe.

People actually watch those shows?

The F was the last single engine Cobra, and the USMC only wanted twins because of overwater flight. So only J, T, W in this case!

Folding an AH-64 rotor is not that big of a change (pull one bolt, similar to a UH-60). Its the basic airframe build for saltwater resistance and shipboard electromagnetic hardening that is not built into the AH-64 from the factory. Any ad hoc marinization done after the fact is inferior to an airframe built and…

They have operated them in short term operations. They are not currently deployed at sea in a permanent fashion.

Yes. However they are only temporary marine operations, not permanent sea deployment.

In this case, they’d be buying a Corps equipment line that the Corps got from the Army when they themselves dropped the AH-1F

I would imagine an airframe that is marinized, like the AH-1Z, would be better suited for this sort of operation. Marinization is a huge deal, and one of the main reasons you cant just take an AH-64 and operate it at sea for extended periods of time.

Plus you already have skids

NDI brings the noise.....just lots of hammer tapping and ultrasonic frequencies!

Clearly, you haven’t spent much time in Survivability engineering. There is absolutely less likelihood of disabling a damage tolerant crossshaft and an engine in a V-22 versus a leaking fuel tank or single turbine on a UH-1.

Also, unless the crash you describe had the UH-1 still traveling over 6o kts or above a few…

In compound helicopters, the rotor RPM is slowed to put it in autorotation and reduce drag (and still contribute to lift), not really for CF stiffening. The guys at Carter copter actually were able to exceed Mu=1 a couple years ago.

Yes the V-22 has difficulty autorotating, but that is not inherent in tiltrotors. A…

Dr Bagai is a great engineer and incredibly bright guy, I had the opportunity to collaborate on his work on the X2 rotor at Sikorsky.

That said, its surprising to see him develop something so decidedly non-rotary wing!