Richard Whittle appeared as a guest on Comedy Central's
The Daily Show today. In case you've been under a log somewhere, Whittle is the author of the now hot book with the oddly familiar title -
The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey. Amazon lists the title's publication date as April 27, 2010.
MV-22 Osprey Aircraft Aboard USS Wasp
Recall we produced Tiltrotor and the Future:
Secret Story of the V-22 Osprey in June 2007.
Hmmm...
The
XV-15 Tiltrotor Research Aircraft at NASA Ames Research Center
Host Jon Stewart seemed to begin the interview with a fairly neutral tone. He then went off about how the program can not be killed off.
Whittle claimed the
Osprey was re-designed in 2007, as if it were a substantially different aircraft.
I've not read the book yet but the sense I get from the interview is the publisher pulled a bait and switch with title. Whittle said he had flown on the
V-22 Osprey and loved it. He preferred it in fact to flying on helicopters. You'd never know that from the title and publicity.
Clearly the program has had major problems and tragic fatal accidents. But it is a revolutionary technology that will change flight forever.
MV-22 Osprey In Iraq
Your thoughts? Keep it civil please.
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