Oct. 31 -- HURLBURT FIELD -- The oldest CV-22 Osprey in the Air Force's inventory flew its last sortie Thursday morning.
The 12-year-old CV-22, called an Additional Test Asset (ATA), is a specialized version of the aircraft designed to test new software and hardware modifications for the fleet.
It is expected to go on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio by the end of the year.
"This aircraft has done just about everything from structural testing to software testing to (radar) testing to electronic warfare testing," said retired Lt. Col. Tom Goodnough, a test pilot for Air Force Special Operations Command. "Everything that's been released into an operational aircraft has gone through this aircraft first.
"Because it was one of the early pre-production aircraft, it's become a unique maintenance challenge," Goodnough said. "It isn't the same as all the other CV-22s. It has its own logistics and because it has such advanced software, the maintainers don't always have the technical orders up to date because it hasn't been released operationally."
The ATA is the only CV-22 at Hurlburt Field dedicated as a test aircraft. Test flights will not cease, but they will be a little more time-consuming, Goodnough said.
"There are scheduled software releases that have to be tested," Goodnough said. "The only difference that it will cause to the base is we will have to take an operational aircraft and reconfigure it with the testing equipment and test software, do our testing and then turn it back into an operational aircraft."
For Master Sgt. Joseph Levine, a flight engineer for the CV-22, the ATA stirs bittersweet memories. Levine, who has worked on the aircraft for three years, is retiring at the end of the year. His final flight in the Air Force could be to take the plane to Wright-Patterson.
"It's OK. Her final resting place, for lack of a better term, is a place where everybody can enjoy it," Levine said. "It revolutionized aviation and it's in the right place to show that.
"It's a good airplane. I've loved it for the past three years," he added. "For me, 16 years of flying ... this is the most fun I've had flying. I remember several years ago, the AFSOC commander was like, 'It is the sports car of AFSOC,' and it is. Just the way it turns, the way it flies, everything is fantastic."
Contact Daily News Business Editor Dusty Ricketts at 850-315-4448 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DustyRnwfdn.
Copyright 2013 - Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach
