MV-22B Osprey Flight Operations Aboard USNS Mercy.
PACIFIC OCEAN (Apr. 19, 2021) An MV-22B Osprey assigned to Air Test and Evaluation (HX) Squadron 21 of Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River, Md., takes off from Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy’s (T-AH 19) flight deck Apr. 19. Mercy is underway off the coast of Southern California completing Dynamic Interface Testing, where the ship’s aviation facilities will be evaluated for compatibility with the V-22 Osprey and MH-60 Seahawk, and establish launch and recovery windows in adverse weather conditions. Mercy recently returned to its homeport in San Diego from a regular overhaul in Portland, Ore., where improvements were made to its flight deck to support multiple aircraft platforms. Mercy must be in a five-day-activation status in order to support missions over the horizon, and be ready, reliable and resilient to support mission commanders. Original public domain image from Flickr