Osprey ($100 million a pop) mishap injures 10 at NYC park

[unhappycamper]

As broken branches lie in the foreground, people look at a Marine MV-22 Osprey in Clove Lakes Park in the Staten Island borough of New York on Monday. The aircraft's powerful propellers whipped up a wind that sent branches hurling off a tree and into a crowd of about 150 people watching a Memorial Day demonstration in a park, leaving 10 people with cuts and other minor injuries, officials and a witness said.


Osprey mishap injures 10 at NYC park
By Jennifer Peltz - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jun 1, 2010 9:50:08 EDT

NEW YORK — A Marine Corps aircraft's powerful propellers whipped up a wind that sent branches hurling off a tree and into a crowd of about 150 people watching a Memorial Day demonstration in a park, leaving 10 people with cuts and other minor injuries, officials and a witness said.

As the Osprey MV-22 aircraft landed at Staten Island's Clove Lakes Park on Monday morning, the wind generated by its twin rotors stirred tree limbs, dirt from a nearby baseball field and other debris into a swirl that sent spectators scattering, witness Ann Hirsch said.

"It was like a storm of sand and garbage and people running," said Hirsch, 66, of Staten Island. "Branches just came down. They were all over the park. ... It was really scary."

One tree lost all its branches on one side.

The MV-22 "stirs up a lot of wind, and that's apparently what did it," Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Josh Diddams said.

[Orrex]

1. Do these stupid things ever NOT crash?

They're very good at sucking money out of the budget, but do they ever actually work as advertised? They did a great job in Transformers, of course, so I guess that's something...

[Obamanaut]

2. Yes. Even in this article there is no mention of a crash, merely

debris blown about by the propwash.

[Orrex]

8. That was an exaggeration, obviously

Still, it's a superfluous, redundant piece of hyper-expensive military technology that serves a need that no longer exists.

Every time I hear of one crashing or injuring a crowd of onlookers, I can only wonder what else might have been done with the money.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[era veteran]

3. You would have to shoot me & drag me on that POS

Military Industrials stick us a lot with crap the military doesn't need or just doesn't work. After a project starts it's time for ostrich mentality.

[wmbrew0206]

12. Actually the reason the Osprey lasted through all of its development problems is

that civilian aviation really wanted the tilt rotor technology but could not afford to develop it themselves.

Every time the Osprey was on the chopping block, the civilian aviation companies made a big push to ensure it continued. This technology basically makes the current helicopters obsolete. The biggest advantage a helo offered was that it could land almost anywhere. Now a tilt rotor airplane can do the same thing.

This bird offers a huge a lot of strategic and tactical advantages. It also has had a good track record through Iraq and Afghan deployments. So it is not correct to say the military did need it or want.

[The_Commonist]

4. That thing flew over my house on the way there...

Loudest frikkin' thing I've ever heard.
Set off all the car alarms in the neighborhood.

[unhappycamper]

5. They frequently flew over my home during 'Fleet Week' in Boston.

Noisy mutherfuckers. I think they are even nosier than a shithook (CH-47).

[arcadian]

7. I heard one flying for the first time a few weeks ago

never heard one before, very distinctive sound, heard it from several miles away.

[wmbrew0206]

9. Its nothing compared to a Harrier

[Obamanaut]

13. And there is nothing quite like standing between the bow catapults

with two F4s in afterburner moments before launch. A tooth rattling experience, but awesome nonetheless.

[wmbrew0206]

15. Never got to work with F-4's but everyone who did loved them!

I did get to control a couple of F-14 just before they were retired.

[G_j]

6. "stirs up a lot of wind, and that's apparently what did it," ...apparently??

apparently? have you seen the video?

[wmbrew0206]

11. This is not suprising but should not have happened.

The Osprey has a ridiculous amount of rotor wash and it is really bad went it comes in for a landing. Whoever has in charge of measuring the LZ for this display should have known this would happen. Very poor planning.

[gratuitous]

14. And yet, even amid the damage and the injuries

The faithful still flocked to line up to worship at the Holy Relic of the High Church of Redemptive Violence, no doubt murmuring prayers of thanksgiving for not being among the injured when the Relic arrived, and grateful for the opportunity to bask in Its Presence. Praise be to Violence, and the Freedom It brings us all.

[Orrex]

16. Why do you hate America?