Blake Hall
The United States Marines officially established a brand new record for Bell Boing V-22 Osprey flights Tuesday when three of the aircraft successfully took off in California and landed in Brazil.
The journey took five days, and most likely would’ve been a little shorter had the crews not encountered some nasty weather.
This from Marine Corps Times:
Flight crews from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 764 flew 6,165 miles from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar to Rio de Janeiro. The Marines made the journey as part of UNITAS Amphibious 2015, a nine-day multinational maritime exercise that runs through Nov. 24. About 1,000 troops from Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru are participating.
The Osprey squadron made a five-leg flight that included stops in Trinidad and Tobago, and Brazil, said 1st Lt. Tyler Hopkins, a UNITAS spokesman. The three Ospreys were supported by three KC-130J Hercules tankers from Marine Aerial Refueler Squadron 234 and one KC-130 from Marine Aerial Refueler Squadron 452.
As you can see by the map below, it’s quite the hike. Thanks to Google, you can also see that it’s a 14-hour commercial flight that’ll run you a few hundred bucks.
