Where were the Ospreys? Update: On the Way!!!
Update: Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, has a story that the U.S. Marine Corps is sending about a dozen tiltrotor MV-22 Ospreys to Haiti aboard the USS Nassau (LHA 4) to help with the earthquake relief effort. (see full story in comment section below.)
I am reading an advance copy of a fascinating book written by my old pal Rick Whittle, about the development of the revolutionary tiltrotor heli-plane, the V-22 Osprey. (I’m supposed to be coming up with a “blurb” for the jacket cover.) You can’t read the book until it comes out in April, but I can tell you now it’s a great read. Rick, a former defense reporter for the Dallas Morning News, is journalist who knows how to write.
Anyway, in discussing the “The Dream Machine, The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey,” with Rick, he raised an interesting point. Namely, where were the Opsreys in the initial days of the Haiti relief effort?
The V-22 Osprey, with it ability to fly with the speed and range of an airplane but also to hover and land like a helicopter, would seem to be ideally suited to the mission of first responder, to ferry equipment and supplies to the most remote areas and inaccessible areas, in those critical first four days when they is still a potential to save lives.
The Marine Corps has about 100 V-22s, of which 10 are deployed. Given the urgent need for lift in Haiti, and the problem of congested runways at the Port-au-Prince airport, wouldn’t a squadron of V-22s be just the thing? Why were dozens just idle on the ground in the North Carolina?
Seahawks, No Ospreys in Haiti (U.S. Navy Photo)
The Marine Corps spent decades and billions of dollars developing and perfecting the V-22. It’s a capability no other country has. Now one obvious answer you might expect to hear from the U.S. military is that the Osprey’s unique capabilities weren’t needed in the first days, or that helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft were adequate. It’s also true that you can’t just rush to the scene with no clue how you are actually going to help, or without the right supplies or personnel.
But I also know sometimes the relief efforts can suffer too much planning and not enough initiative, imagination and ingenuity. Perfection can be, and often is, the enemy of the good.
I just wonder if V-22 Ospreys could have, for instance, ferried more rescue teams and first responders from local fire departments to the scene in greater numbers and saved more lives in the crucial first few days?
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Jan. 17, 2010) A member of the Los Angeles County Fire Department Search and Rescue team (U.S. Navy photo
“I guess there are many, many considerations, but seems to me they’re missing a real opportunity,” Rick Whittle responed to me in an email.
More on Rick’s book, when it gets closer to publication.
