Thunderbirds
USAF Ospreys use Grants, Gallup for training

Two CV-22 Ospreys stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base tilt their rotors into hover and prepare to land at the Grants/Milan Airport June 7 in Grants. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

A CV-22 Osprey stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base take off into the sun June 7 at the Grants/Milan Airport in Grants. Airport Manager Wes Hobbs talked with Air Force officials and city officials to allow the Osprey Squadron to practice maneuvers at the Grants/Milan Airport. Hobbs said it only makes sense to volunteer the airport for maneuvers since they do not see as much traffic as the runway Kirtland AFB uses in Albuquerque. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

GRANTS — The sound reaches you moments before you see them. A loud thundering noise coming from the east. Then they appear, low over the horizon, moving fast, looking almost menacing, aiming directly at where you stand.

What is it? It is the new CV22 Osprey, a U.S. Air Force aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter or a fixed wing airplane.

The 71st Special Operation Squadron, based at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, has four of the Ospreys and is the training wing for pilots and flight engineers for the Air Force, said Lt. Col. Todd Lovell, squadron commander.

The Ospreys, usually in pairs, use local municipal airports close to the base for landing and takeoff practices, including Grants-Milan, where they fly into and out of regularly.

The Ospreys were just at the Gallup Municipal Airport Tuesday, but Terry Walker, a spokesman for the base, said the group practically never uses the airport and plans no more practices. They have not planned additional practice missions in Gallup, "but never rule anything out," he said.

The aircraft use Grants-Milan Municipal Airport all the time, airport manager Wes Hobbs said. When people who live near the airport, or in the flight path from the east, hear the loud rotor noise and see the planes flying in during the day, they show up, some with cameras, and watch until the planes are gone.

Hobbs said the Air Force has been using the Grants-Milan airport lately, and the Ospreys have flown into and out of the airport about 200 times since the first of May.

Special missions
The Osprey is designed for use in combat in special operations missions, Lovell said. It carries a crew of four, two pilots and two flight engineers and its top speed is 275 knots, or 350 mph.

The cannot be placed completely forward like an airplane when the plane is on the ground, because the rotors would strike the ground and be damaged, Lovell said.

The Ospreys cost $70 million each and eventually the Air Force will have 50 of them, he said.

The training missions being flown into Grants show the versatility of the planes.

As the aircraft land vertically, the thundering sound can be heard even from several hundred feet away. It is so loud because the rotors are literally beating the air into the ground.

When the aircraft takes off as a fixed wing airplane, the rotors are set at a 60 degree angle forward. When flying with the wings completely forward like a fixed wing airplane, the sound level is much less, and you hear the airplane only after it passes you, not before it arrives, like when the rotors and set at their 96.5 degrees vertically.

One of the two flight engineers sits in the "jump seat," a third seat near the pilots, and assists with navigation. The other flight engineer is in the back of the aircraft scanning for potential threats and to make sure the landing area is clear.

Troops and vehicles
There are seats for 24 special operations troops and room for vehicles. The Osprey was designed so long ago it was designed around the old Jeep, Lovell said.

Now, there is a new vehicle being designed to fit in the bay of the aircraft, he said.

The Osprey currently is not armed for attack or defense, but a 50-caliber machine gun can be mounted in the side, Lovell said.

It has a range of about 1,000 miles and can be refueled in midair. There are now several pilots and flight engineers being trained at Kirtland along with 25 instructor pilots and flight crews.

"Grants is a nice facility, it's close to the base and the people there are friendly," Lovell said.

It is only a 10-minute flight from Kirtland to Grants for the practice and training missions, he said.

Some C-130's have used Grants for practice as well, but the runway is too short and will not support the weight of those aircraft. They primarily practice touch-and-goes, where the airplane touches the runway as if it were landing, then powers up and takes off without coming to a stop.

Small but busy
There are about 750-800 civilian flights coming in or leaving the Grants-Milan airport, a year, Hobbs said.

Hobbs manages the airport for the city and leases hanger space to about 14 permanent airplanes, he said.

The planes range in size from a small, single-engine Cessna 150, a two-seater, to a twin-engine, six-seat Cessna 310, Hobbs said.

Hobbs is a certified commercial pilot, having flown since the 1960s since being a firefighter with the NWC China Lake Naval Weapons Center, as a civilian, in California. He retired from there and has been the manager of the airport for the past 13 years.

All pilots who have aircraft at Grants-Milan have to have a flight review every two years, Hobbs said.

"I go up with them and make sure they still know how to take off and land and use the instruments," he said, and added that pilots must maintain their pilot's license.

The runway at Grants-Milan is 7,150 feet long and can accommodate aircraft that weigh up to 60,000 pounds, which is the average size of a 19-passenger aircraft.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin, call (505) 287-2197 or fax; (505) 287-2581.