Air Force Finds Mechanical and Crew Failures in Fatal Osprey Crash Last Year
An Air Force investigation determined that the “catastrophic failure” of a gearbox led to a deadly Osprey crash off the coast of Japan last year that resulted in hundreds of aircraft being grounded in the United States and abroad.
A report on the inquiry released on Thursday also suggested that swifter action by the pilot could have prevented the aircraft from crashing in November in the waters off the small southern island of Yakushima, killing all eight Air Force Special Operations Command service members on board.
“The purpose of the investigation was to identify the cause and contributing factors that led to this mishap,” Lt. Gen. Tony D. Bauernfeind, who led the command during the inquiry, said in a statement. “By conducting a thorough review and accident and safety investigations, we hope to provide answers to the families of the airmen that lost their lives and prevent future occurrences and tragedies.”
The crew received multiple warning signals, including an indication to “land as soon as possible” because of metal chipping off the aircraft’s gears. The crew received six warnings the day of the crash.
The crew eventually aborted its planned mission, but investigators found that its risk management was inadequate. The pilot should have tried to land earlier, when the flight could have been diverted to closer airfields, investigators wrote. Instead, the pilot delayed taking action on the warnings and continued with the planned exercises.
Just before the crash, the Osprey was about half a mile from the end of the runway at Yakushima Airport, in the middle of an emergency landing that investigators said came too late. Cascading failures resulted in the aircraft catching fire and plunging into the water.
Investigators retrieved the faulty gearbox and determined that the gears had fractured, but did not identify any pre-existing manufacturing defects.
On Thursday, a spokeswoman for Air Force Special Operations Command said it was grateful for the service of those killed in the crash “and will continue to honor their legacies.”
“As far as our investigation could determine, this is the first time that this specific part has failed” on an Osprey V-22, the spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Rebecca Heyse, said. “We continue to work with Naval Air Systems Command and industry partners to conduct the engineering analysis on these parts and to look at ways to try to eliminate the possibility of it happening again.”
An unconscious service member was rescued after the crash by locals in boats, but later died. Six other bodies were recovered from the water. One service member’s remains were not found.
Shortly after the crash, the Air Force had cited “a potential matériel failure” as the cause and grounded nearly 500 military aircraft as a precaution. At the time, the Air Force had 54 Ospreys, the Navy had 48 and the Marine Corps had 360. Japan’s defense minister had also called on the United States to stop flying the Osprey in the country until the aircraft was judged safe.
The Air Force lifted the order to ground Ospreys in March, but with certain restrictions on their use. It is unclear whether any restrictions remain in place.
The crash investigation, which was completed in May, was led by Lt. Gen. Michael E. Conley. Experts conducted interviews and examined maintenance logs, flight recorder data, briefing materials and aircraft wreckage, according to the Air Force.
The investigation examined only one of a series of recent fatal crashes. The Osprey is an aircraft with a troubled safety history. More than 60 deaths have been linked to Osprey accidents since the Marines began using the craft in the early 1990s, and there have been four fatal crashes in the past two years.
Last year, three American Marines were killed during a training exercise when an Osprey with 23 people on board crashed near Darwin, Australia.
Nine Marines were killed in two crashes in 2022. One Osprey crashed in June during a training mission near Glamis, Calif., killing all five on board. Another crashed in a valley in Beiarn, Norway, killing four. The United States temporarily grounded its Osprey fleet in Japan after one of the craft crashed off the southern island of Okinawa in 2016.
In some cases, the Osprey has had issues with “hard clutch engagement,” in which the clutch suddenly slips before re-engaging. But Thursday’s report did not point to the clutch as a factor in the most recent crash.
#Air #Force #Finds #Mechanical #Crew #Failures #Fatal #Osprey #Crash #Year