"Blackjacks" MV-22 team tests new flight control capability at sea

Pilots and engineers from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (HX) 21 based at Naval Air Station Patuxent River successfully tested a more stable method of flying MV-22 Ospreys to and from ships during a weeklong detachment in the Atlantic in late May-early June.

A team of 50 HX-21 personnel embarked on the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) on May 26 to conduct a series of test flights that would demonstrate the efficacy of a flight control response called attitude mode. In attitude mode, the pilot uses lateral stick motion to control the attitude, rather than the rate, of the aircraft’s roll. This reduces the pilot’s workload when hovering, keeping station, or conducting a landing approach in darkness or brownout conditions.