Ospreys To Take Part In Operational Evaluation

The last of the MV-22 Osprey's that will take part in an upcoming operational evaluation was recently flown from Amarillo, TX, to Marine Tiltrotor Test and Evaluation Squadron-22(VMX-22) in North Carolina.

The aircraft arrived to the squadron ready for full flight operations.

The addition of the recent arrival to VMX-22's inventory has enabled the squadron to resume flights beginning today while awaiting spare parts for its remaining aircraft.

Last month the squadron discontinued flights at the direction of Col. Glenn M. Walters, commanding officer of VMX-22, in order to avoid risking a reduction in spare supply on a part of the aircraft called the proprotor gearbox.

Prior to Walter's decision, flaking of the thin dense chrome on the input quills within the proprotor gearbox and improper torquing of a part within the proprotor gearbox caused a chip light indicator to go off in several of the MV-22 Ospreys. While flights at VMX-22 could have resumed, the decision to continue flying the aircraft could have lead to the eventual need to replace the entire proprotor gearbox rather than only replacing the input quill within the proprotor gearbox.

 Flights of the V-22 in Amarillo, TX, Edwards Air Force Base, CA and Patuxent River, MD, were not affected by last month's decision. Pending the arrival of the new input quills, VMX-22 will fly the remaining aircraft.

With the arrival of the latest aircraft, VMX-22 will continue to train personnel as current, qualified and proficient in the aircraft in order to prepare for operational evaluation.

VMX-22 will fly up to eight aircraft more than 500 hours during operational evaluation.

FMI: www.usmc.mil