Aren't VTOL aircraft significantly more complex and riskier to operate than fixed-wing prop aircraft? There's certainly many fewer moving parts and tricky transitions from hover to airfoil flight regime.

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alistairSH 32 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

A quick search of Osprey Class A mishaps puts it slightly ahead (better off) than Blackhawk or Super Stallion.

But a way worse record when compared to the fixed-wing C-130.

Both comparisons are per 100k flight hours.

Some of that risk can possibly be mitigated with a rotating engine, but fixed wing, similar to the Bell Valor. Possibly, because AFAIK, the Valor is the only plane like this and it's just a PoC.

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voakbasda an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

And there’s that whole pesky problem of not being able to glide to a safe landing when something goes catastrophically wrong.

	▲	catketch an hour ago \| parent [-]
		that varies with the design (they could have small fixed wings). Beta have full-airframe ballistic parachutes i believe. That is feasible at least for smaller aircraft.