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.

FMI: www.navy.mil