The V-22 recently surpassed 1,000-flight hours flown since the Osprey’s return to flight in May ’02. Osprey No. 24 got the program past the mark during an icing test flight over Nova Scotia, where a V-22 Integrated Test Team detachment is currently based for the first half of the icing portion of the test plan.

“It’s fitting that this milestone was reached by Osprey No. 24 on our crucial icing detachment in Canada,” said Col. Craig Olson, USAF, V-22 Joint Program Manager. “We’ve accomplished what we’d intended at this point since the return to flight, and that is truly a reflection of the teamwork between the program office and integrated test team.”

“This milestone represents a year and a half of hard work, successful testing, and mishap-free flying,” said Kevin Morgan, V-22 Contractor Flight Test Director. “We’ve accomplished a lot over the last eighteen months. I couldn’t be more proud of the folks at Pax, Edwards, and New River, and our industry partners at the sites. A lot of people came together to make this milestone happen.”

Since the V-22 program’s return to flight, the Osprey has gone through exhaustive developmental testing, highlighted by two at-sea periods and a battery of high rate of descent tests that clearly defined the airplane’s robust operating envelope and led to Tom Macdonald, the chief corporate test pilot, receiving the Society of Experimental Test Pilot’s prestigious Iven C. Kincheloe award.

Additionally, the program received important shows of confidence from Department of Defense leadership during the two most recent defense acquisitions boards held at the Pentagon. In the coming months, the program will be focusing on other facets of developmental testing as well as supporting VMX-22, the tiltrotor test and evaluation squadron based at MCAS New River, North Carolina, as it prepares for the Osprey’s operational evaluation next year and eventual fleet introduction of the aircraft.