The Osprey, with its two powerful tilting rotors, has a reputation for creating mayhem with its downwash.
The Air Force uses the Osprey for long-range, special operations transport missions.
A U.S. Air Force Osprey tiltrotor accidentally demonstrated what happens when you point 12,000 horsepower straight down: you blow away a helicopter helipad. The helipad, apparently made of rubber matting, was no match for the Osprey’s two Rolls-Royce engines.
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The incident took place on Wednesday at the Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, the U.K. The helipad was used in a military exercise involving U.S. Air Force units. As the CV-22 Osprey took off, it lifted the mats that created the helipad into the air and blew them in all directions.