V-22 Test Pilot Honored with Kincheloe Award

Tom Macdonald, the Osprey V-22 chief test pilot, received the Iven C. Kincheloe Award from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. The award, established in memory of Kincheloe, who died in 1958 in the course of flight-testing an F-104 Starfighter, is presented annually for outstanding flight-test accomplishments. Macdonald has to date logged 700 hours of flight time in the V-22 and was the first test pilot to fully define a high rate of descent/low-airspeed envelope for the hybrid aircraft. He repeatedly flew the aircraft to test points that were at once close to load limits, flapping limits and the aerodynamic departure boundary. He also recommended the installation of a high-rate-of-descent warning system.