Risking the First Lady's life, not a good idea ...

[dogtag]

Those Ospreys are bloody dangerous. They're accidents
waiting to happen, and they often do.
"It droppeth as the gentle rain from Heaven upon the place beneath"
And that's exactly what they do - Droppeth.

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2018-12-12/melania-trump-makes-first-lady-history-with-ride-in-osprey

[Major Tom]

I'd bet that off camera, there was at least one or more rifles/shotguns ready to "droppeth" any dimocratic osprey.

[RED]

Maybe not so dangerous these days. Since 2007 there has been 12 fatalities according to Wikipedia. That's with over 200 aircraft flying 1,000's of hours. Back in testing before being accepted 2001-2007 there were 3X the fatalities.

[Allen]

I imagine the trip was short and she was surrounded by suited paratroopers ready to grab her and jump if need be. You DON'T hear much about them crashing any more but I know the program was nearly scrapped several times during the planes rocky beginnings.

[dogtag]

I imagine the trip was short and she was surrounded by suited paratroopers ready to grab her and jump if need be. You DON'T hear much about them crashing any more but I know the program was nearly scrapped several times during the planes rocky beginnings.

Well, she's certainly worth grabbing - but politely of course.

[Vern Humphrey]

The Osprey's problem was simple, once they figured it out -- Vortex Ring Effect. VRE is the "tornado" that a helicopter rides on -- the air above the blades is relatively still, but the air below the blades is circulating rapidly in the same direction as the blades. If a helicopter descends vertically, it can descend into the VRE and suddenly there's no lift! CRASH! That's why when a helicopter descends in a true vertical mode, it descends SLOOOOOLY.

For some reason, no one realized the Osprey is prey to the same phenomenon, and that accounts for most of the early disasters.

[Major Tom]

Oh, excuse me! I thought we were talking about a 'bird'.

[Allen]

Oh, excuse me! I thought we were talking about a 'bird'.

Perhaps at one time.

[JB White]

The earlier versions as those pictured had a pretty good glide. Notice the lack of restraints.