Without a nacelle hanging in the field of fire, the V-280 can mount door guns. That allows a major operational perk for the Army.
Unlike its predecessor, the V-22 Osprey, the V-280’s twin engines stay put while just the rotors move to create thrust and lift, depending on how the aircraft is being flown.
#V 280 valor cockpit full#
At full augmentation rate, transition to cruise mode should take about 20 seconds to get the pylons on the downstops and about a minute from a dead stop to get to speeds in excess of 230 kt. V-280 can also take off straight up and transition to forward, airplane-like flight, as the V-22 can, but much faster, and can fly between the two modes at various angles of flight. “We’re going to continue to expand the envelope.” “There’s really not an endpoint,” Grove said of the flight test campaign. “I have been pleasantly surprised how controllable it’s basic level of augmentation affords you.”ĭuring the June demonstration, Grove and co-pilot Paul “Pup” Ryan, a retired Marine officer, demonstrated a rolling takeoff and roll-on landing, which allows the aircraft to take off at higher gross weights and density altitudes because the aircraft can get on the wing before leaving the ground, taking advantage of the much more efficient wing-lift capability. “This aircraft has absolutely exceeded my expectations, in terms of capability,” Grove said. Even in its most degraded capability, the aircraft still has good handling qualities and is astonishing test pilots with what it can do and what they can do with the aircraft.ĭuring a test flight that saw winds up to 20 kt, the aircraft seemed suspended motionless during hover at the hands of test pilot Don Grove, a retired Air Force test pilot with experience in the CV-22. So far flight test has been flown in “AUG RATE,” which is the “foundational” level of flight controls, meaning they are hand-flying the aircraft. That is not a combat maneuver, but is a powerful demonstration of the aircraft’s stability, especially considering the pilots still are flying in a degraded autopilot mode. It can pirouette, which combines both lateral and yaw motion. What’s lost in raw numbers is how this aircraft can dance at 30 ft above the ground. The V-280 is designed to potentially fly up to 280 kt once fully operational.
That’s faster than the cruise speed of the swiftest operational military helicopter, Lazzara said. When the aircraft is fully cleared, it will fly more than 250 kt and will be able to decelerate from that speed and land at an objective in vertical mode in about a minute. 18, test pilots have expanded Valor’s flight envelope to include cruising at 190 kt at altitudes up to 500 ft. Ultimately, the aircraft should cruise at 280 kt - thus the designation V-280 - and sprint at 300 kt with a 2,100-nm range. It also went from “the back of a napkin to a thing of beauty” flying at nearly 200 kt in fewer than five years, said Chief Engineer Paul Wilson. It zooms at speeds no conventional helicopter can achieve. All of those design elements were incorporated in response to the Army’s desire for a next-generation vertical-lift platform with speed, range, payload capacity, reliability and survivability superior to legacy helicopters, Ehinger said.Īs Valor cruised past gawking onlookers at 160 kt on a bright June day in Texas, its speed was evident. The V-280 has a straight wing, fixed-engine nacelles, sliding side doors and a 12-passenger reconfigurable cabin. “What you’ll see when this aircraft flies is a very high level of maturity when it comes to putting all those design elements into practice and being able to fly an aircraft.” “Everything you see on the V-280 is really a direct response to what we’ve learned from all of the configurations we’ve had in the past and all the test data we’ve got,” said V-280 Program Manager Ryan Ehinger. Valor draws on years of experience Bell has had building the V-22 in partnership with Boeing, but is a clean-sheet design that addresses the Osprey’s shortcomings.
Lazzara narrated a demonstration of Valor’s aerial acrobatics June 18, the first time the media and public saw it fly in person. He hasn’t flown in it yet, but the object of Lazzara’s aerospace affection is now the Osprey’s high-tech younger cousin, the Bell V-280 Valor. “Given the choice, I’d never fly a helicopter if I could fly a tiltrotor.” “I’m a total zealot,” Lazzara recently told R&WI. It’s with tiltrotors that his heart remains. Through a 26-year military career flying light scout helicopters then lumbering maritime cargo aircraft, Frank Lazzara ended with 11 years as a CV-22 pilot for U.S.
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