Chad Irby wrote:
Mike Marron wrote:

Why you keep trotting out the F-14 is beyond me.

Because, during its development, it crashed *more* often than the
"dangerous" Osprey has, per hour of flight.

And *way* more often than the "troubled" F-22.

This is a non-response. Snipping away the crux of the message
won't make it go away....

Why you keep trotting out the F-14 is beyond me. Squadrons of
fighters and fighter bombers with variable geometry wings have
been around for decades (since the 60's) long before the F-14
was even on the drawing boards. In fact, unlike tilt-rotor aircraft,
some swing-wing aircraft such as the F-111, Su-22 and Su-24 have
been operational for so long now that they've even become obsolete!
And there's also the B-1, Mig-27 and Tornado swing wings which,
unlike the Osprey tilt-rotor, have also been operational for decades.
Don't misunderstand, I wouldn't be building and flying flexwing trikes
if I were a luddite, but I haven't met too many pilots whom are all
that impressed by either the Osprey or the Harrier especially
when compared to their more conventional fixed and rotary wing
counterparts.