| Well put FVD - fully agree! If the press we have today was around in WWII they'd have opposed the P-51 Mustang when several crashed inexplicably in early development. Wonder how that war would have ended if the DOD had listened. |
I hear all your points, but it's still hard to believe the story is 100% BS. When someone like Cheney tried so hard to kill the program, it just makes me think there something fishy going on. And those cost overruns are out of control -- though, I know, not exactly new when it comes to new military hardware. The lack of autorotation does appear to be a significant issue, too -- at least all those helis in Vietnam had a good chance at a successful crash landing, no?
I'm not one to get embroiled in political debates about this stuff, just thought it was interesting -- the story also says the bird hasn't been adequately tested in sandy environments yet off it goes. I do hope the safety concerns proove to be unfounded.
At least the pilots seem to like the thing, I'm sure they could have easily got one to sound off on it (off the record) if the pilots agreed with the main theme of the story... if it is indeed as unsafe and untested an aircraft as is presented, you would think finding a pilot or two to agree wouldn't be that hard (again off the record).