http://www.shephard.co.uk/Rotorhub/N...3-60a42dc65400
It’s often said Osprey flies like a plane and lands and takes off like
a helicopter – but that is both a cliché and an understatement that
hides the synergy that comes from combining both.

This aircraft today twisted, turned, climbed and dove like no
helicopter or turboprop transport ever could.

One could almost imagine the frustrated missile and RPG firers below
the random flight paths it followed, desperately trying to get in
their shot but unable to get the necessary tracking solution.

In truth, though, the aircraft here is not performing to its maximum
potential. Back home at New River, NC., where rehearsals are actively
underway for the first ‘go-to-war’ MV-22B squadron (VMM 263) , pilots
routinely take the aircraft further into the flight envelope.

On a scale of one to ten, officials said, the Farnborough pair are
about a five to six, the result of mainly airspace restrictions (they
don’t have airspace rules for tiltrotors), but also because company
test pilots - rather than USMC line pilots – are at the controls for
various reasons having to do with airshow flights overseas.

-HJC