I saw a plane today that I’m not sure I’ve seen the likes of before.
It wasn’t too big. It had what appeared to be 2 oversized props, one on the outside of each wing. The fuselage was chubby. And I think it had an upright rudder on each end of the aft horizontal tail wing.
Does anyone know what kind of plane that might be?
Note that the “propellers on the outside of each wing” tilt up to function like helicopter rotors or horizontal to work as propellers.
Here’s what an Osprey looks like when the propellers are in horizontal mode:
That was it. It had the props in a forward facing configuration. Interesting, never seen one in flight before.
I’ve seen them in flight a handful of times, but always in the “helicopter” configuration.
Honestly, it looked a little comical with those oversized props. almost like an oversized toy.
It must be dicey going from helicopter to plane mode!
Piece of cake compared to the “one prop feathered” procedures.
Weren’t several Marines killed when these were first used?
In the eastern Sierra there are Ospreys stationed at the Mountain Warfare Training Center on CA108. On a good day you can park up the road and watch the Ospreys fly a big circle route around the canyon as they approach and come in for landings.
Yes.
But every form of military transport has accidents.
Yikes!
Yes, the Osprey definitely had some safety issues early on, but those seem to have been resolved (it was also 'way over-budget). I remember Time magazine had a cover issue on the plane’s problems; at one point the Marine Corps commandant, with much hoopla, flew on one with his wife to show just how safe they were. I remember feeling sorry for the poor woman.
I had the chance to walk through an Osprey on the ground during Marine Week in my city a few years back, which was cool, and last year, I saw several Ospreys at a nearby airport in support of the President’s visit to town for a big fundraiser. For more on President-adjacent Ospreys, scroll down here: New Marine One VH-92A Helicopters Could Be Joined By Fleet Of CH-92A Trainer-Transports
The Navy version is replacing the C2 Greyhound with the Osprey for Carrier Onboard Delivery. Don’t know about interior or electronic differences, but on the exterior the Navy Osprey has two large “saddle” fuel tanks as long the left and right sides.