Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey

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Bell Boeing V22 Osprey
V22Osprey.jpg
Type Helicopter
Author(s) Emmanuel Baranger(3D), Maik Justus(FDM)
FDM YASim
--aircraft= v22
Status alpha
Download Download the Bell Boeing V22 Osprey aircraft package for the current stable release (2020.3).
The cockpit of the V-22. Note descent rate.
The V-22 in flight.
A wider view of the detailed cockpit with pilot figure.
The V22 with folded wings.

The V22 Osprey is not a plane, nor a helicopter: it is a tiltrotor aircraft, so it's both!

Summary

The V-22 Osprey is an interesting aircraft, and the Flight Gear model is a fully functional, instrumented model that is relatively easy to fly. Not to be confused with the Bell/Boeing VMX22-Osprey model which is a development model in Flight Gear, and lacks instruments at present.

First Flight

The first thing to do is start the engines by pressing and holding down the } key. The rotors take a while to start. The rotors slowly increase in speed until they become a blur.

The simplest take- off is a vertical one. Make sure the controls are absolutely centered before starting otherwise the aircraft will roll and crash into the tarmac. Increase the rotor pitch by pressing the "Page Down" key. Yes, that's right, "Page Down". For some reason page up decreases the pitch of the blades or the power. Press the "Page Down" key and watch the aircraft climb vertically into the sky.

Once you are up to a good height, say 2,000 ft, slowly test the controls. Left stick makes the aircraft roll to the left, but starts a yaw as well probably due to the airflow hitting the tail surfaces, which means that now you are spinning like a top at 2,000 ft and going nowhere. To stop the spinning, use opposite stick, that is, stick to the right. Rudder controls will work as well, I suppose but I did not try them.

Tilt the rotors forward by using M and see the speed increase. Once you are at a good speed, you can fly it like an airplane.

Landing was easier than I thought, from a vertical hover, spinning stopped, I lowered power until a comfortable 2,000 ft per minute descent was indicated on the lower right instrument. A slight forward velocity was also experienced, which I left without checking. At the last moment, I increased power and slowed descent to 200 fpm and landed solidly.

I would prefer if left and right stick resulted in roll only, with automatic compensation for yaw, however this probably a design feature to make it fly like a helicopter.

Aircraft help

Key Function
} Start engines
{ Stop engines
PageUp Increase power
PageDown Decrease power
m Tilt rotors forward by 10 degrees
M Tilt rotors afterward by 10 degrees
Alt + M Tilt rotors vertical
n Unfold wing
N Fold wing
  • The tilt range is -10deg .. 0deg (vertical) .. 90deg (horitzontal)
  • The allowed tilt range is a function of the aircraft's speed.
  • The flight computer limits the actual tilt to this range.
  • Therefore you can lift of with vertical rotors and accelerate like a helicopter.
  • The computer will increase the tilt with increasing airspeed.
  • For faster acceleration set the tilt to the maximum.
  • The Osprey can hover within a range of -10deg to 30deg.
  • You can set the tilt to horizontal/90deg on ground. Due to the lack of speed the tilt is limited to 30deg max.

External Links