V-22 Starts Air-to-Air Refueling Tests
On the afternoon of March 22, the V-22 Integrated Test Team flew
the first air-to-air refueling flights since the program’s
return to flight in May of 2002. Over the course of two one-hour
sorties using Osprey No. 22, test pilots Lt. Col. Kevin Gross, USMC
and Steve Grohsmeyer each logged five “dry plugs”
behind a VX-20 KC-130F operating near NAS Patuxent River. The
pilots were assisted by crew chiefs Staff Sgt. Brett Heuvelman,
USMC and Staff Sgt. Craig Mynard, USMC. The primary reason for the
flights was to re-establish Gross and Grohsmeyer’s day aerial
refueling qualifications. Eventually the ITT will have six pilots
qualified to tank day and night, and at night while wearing night
vision goggles – all part of the developmental test plan.
“Air-to-air refueling is an easy task in the V-22,”
Lt. Col. Gross said after the flights. “The aircraft
demonstrates positive and predictable characteristics in all axes
but especially in the thrust axis where the pilot’s ability
to control closure rates is important.” Gross said this
particular refueling exercise was done at airspeeds around 200
knots and an altitude of 10,000 feet.
Although Osprey No. 22 has an eleven-foot fixed probe, the
qualification flights were the initial step toward testing the new
retractable refueling probe that will be installed on Osprey No.
21, currently being modified in Hangar 109 at Pax River. The
developmental testing of the retractable probe will begin early
next month and should last about three weeks. The retractable probe
is just over nine feet long when extended but is flush with the
nose when stowed – a necessary feature for shipboard
operations. The V-22’s air-to-air refueling features are the
cornerstone of the improvements in self-deployment capability and
operational range over the legacy systems it will replace.
The air-to-air refueling developmental testing is just one area
where the ITT is supporting VMX-22, the Osprey Test and Evaluation
Squadron based at MCAS New River, North Carolina, as they prepare
for OPEVAL next year. Once developmental testing is complete
– whether its air-to-air refueling, formation flight, or
shipboard operations – VMX-22 is cleared to begin operational
testing in that area.
In other Osprey news, hardware modifications to correct a flight
control irregularity discovered during testing in mid-December were
recently installed in Osprey Nos. 8 and 10, several weeks ahead of
initial estimates. Regression flight testing will begin on March
26. The most recent analysis demonstrated the hardware modification
alone should be sufficient to relieve the current flight
limitations that restrict pilots when operating non-telemeter
aircraft in helicopter mode. Flight testing will complete in late
April, and at that point, the hardware will be incorporated into
the rest of the fleet and the flight restriction will be
lifted.
On the West Coast, Osprey No. 9, a CV-22, flew its first open
air range electronic warfare flight on March 9 on China
Lake’s Electronic Combat Range. Initial assessments of the
flight showed that the EW system (ALQ-211 SIRFC) performed as
designed and had a good correlation to previous ground testing. The
V-22 ITT is developing the CV-22 at Edwards AFB for future use by
the U.S. Special Operations Command in long-range special missions,
evacuations, and other contingencies.
ANN thanks NAVAIR's Ward Carroll for this article.