Boeing

The Frederick L. Feinberg Award was presented to the V-22 Integrated Test Team pilots recently by American Helicopter Society president Dean Borgman.

Bell developmental test pilot Marty Shubert accepted the award on behalf of the team. Led by chief pilot Tom Macdonald at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., each of the 13-member multi-service team was listed on the citation. The Marine Corps and Air Force pilots, along with Bell Boeing developmental test pilots, received the award at the annual American Helicopter Society awards banquet in Montreal, Canada, May 26.

"We're proud of the successes of the Engineering and Manufacturing Development program and the recent delivery of the first MV-22B production aircraft," said Shubert. "This award comes at a fortuitous time for the team as we are just about to wind down the developmental testing efforts and see many of our pilots go elsewhere to either facilitate (Air Force) CV-22 testing or field the Marine Corps' MV-22s."

The award was established in 1960 and is presented annually to the helicopter pilot(s) who accomplish the most outstanding achievement during the preceding calendar year.

"The professionalism and experience of the V-22 pilot staff and their willingness to operate as an integrated contractor/customer development test team was critical to the ITT achieving major program milestones in 1998," according to the nomination package. Under significant flight test schedule pressure, V-22 test pilots safely completed envelope and structural expansion to the full specification requirement.

Specific noteworthy achievements listed, include:

• carried external loads to 220 knots (an unofficial world record for rotorcraft);
• developed full operational capability which allowed successful completion of operational testing (OT-IID) in 140 hours;
• quickly trained six operational pilots who conducted the OT-IID evaluation;
• conducted aerial refueling tests (airplane and conversion modes);
• low-level tactical operations;
• personnel and equipment deployment and recovery;
• flare separation.

The pilot team led the V-22 ITT in the use of full-up simulation to support critical flight test end points which offset flight test schedule risk for High Angle of Attack and Critical Azimuth testing.

Listed as award recipients were all the developmental test pilots involved in the EMD program:

• Thomas L.Macdonald (Boeing and ITT Chief Test Pilot), William A. Leonard
• (Bell Helicopter Textron-ITT Assistant Chief Test Pilot), James E Lindsey
• (Bell Helicopter Textron), William A. Norton (Boeing), Steven P. Grohsmeyer (Boeing), Martin W. Shubert (Bell Helicopter Textron), Lt. Col. John D. Rudzis (USMC- V-22 government flight test director), Maj William J. Wainwright (USMC), Maj. Thomas P. Currie (USAF), Maj William P. Witzig (USMC), Maj. Kevin L. Gross (USMC), Major Chris C. Seymour (USMC), Maj. Michael T. Healy (USAF).

The Bell Boeing Tiltrotor Team, comprised of Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., in Fort Worth, Texas, and The Boeing Company in Philadelphia, developed the V-22 tiltrotor for the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy and U.S. Special Operations Command. Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron, Inc. of Providence, R. I.

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