I have never fully understood why you would want to take a huge, lumbering rotary wing aircraft and put it in a combat environment. A small cadre of enemy could take this puppy out with a bushel basket full of sling shots and ball bearings while it was lumbering through the air. I can see where you might want to use it to deliver war goods to a large airfield, but to deliver goods to a hot LZ, no way!
I hate to tell you this, but it doesn't take a big lumbering rotary wing aircraft to get downed by ball bearings and such. Ask the Mau -Mau warrior who downed a UN helicopter, a lot smaller than Osprey, with a wooden spear........ Or the Arab tribesman who downed a helo with a muzzleloading musket The VC did alot of damage to Hueys once they learned how to lead them. Point, it only takes ONE lucky hit on anything to bring it down.......so what's the difference.
Difference between a helo and Osprey? A helo in many cases can auto-rotate(power off landing) when it gets shot up. The Osprey will roll in and crumble...and how do they land when the engines get jammed in forward flight - it will happen. This VTOL was a thoughtful attempt to overcome the problem of retreating blade stall that limited the forward speed of helo's. I just don't think it survive well in combat.
The pilot will probably set the throttles back to ground idle range, and feather the props. Yes it will crumble upon set down but only after the blades bend or break. Then again if the prop brake isn't working the prop will continue to spin if the blades aren't set to feather. that's if there's an engine failure. Also depending on the helo, load and altitude, an autorotation landing can be very rough on a helo.
