Bataan preps for Osprey shipboard deployment

[unhappycamper]

Flight deck crew prepares to launch three MV-22 Ospreys from the amphibious assault ship Battaan


Bataan preps for Osprey shipboard deployment
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 26, 2009 12:24:47 EST

ABOARD THE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP BATAAN — At sea, amid icy winds several miles off the coast of North Carolina, David Kouskouris is among the first sailors to lay hands on the Corps’ MV-22 Osprey.

“We, as deck handlers, have to understand how this aircraft moves around the deck,” said Kouskouris, a senior chief aviation boatswain’s mate (aircraft handling) (AW/SW) and the flight deck chief for the Bataan.

“Before, we only had computer-generated models. Now, we’re taking into account things like human error and wind conditions,” he explained from inside the ship’s flight deck control. As he spoke, he moved small Osprey-shaped plastic cutouts over a chalk-marked glass replica of the deck known as the “Ouija Board.”

After more than 20 years in development and a successful land-based tour in Iraq last year, the Osprey, the military’s first tilt-rotor aircraft, is preparing for its first deployment on a Navy ship. The Bataan Expeditionary Strike Group spent much of February training near Camp Lejeune, N.C., and getting ready for a trans-Atlantic pump with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit in May.

The Osprey is replacing the CH-46 Sea Knight as the primary medium-lift aircraft for the MEU’s air combat element. The Osprey will be able to move twice as many Marines to shore twice as fast. (The Osprey can transport two dozen Marines with combat gear ashore at 250 mph.)


Rest of article at: http://navytimes.com/news/2009/02/marine_osprey_022609w/%2e

[ConcernedCanuk]

1. That is one butt-ugly looking aircraft

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looks like a disaster waiting to happen