US military grounds entire fleet of Osprey aircraft following a deadly crash off the coast of Japan

shutterguy

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Got a co-worker who is ex-Marine, always tells me he wouldn't ride on any of these Osprey's due to problems with them.

90



WASHINGTON (AP) — The military announced late Wednesday it was grounding all of its Osprey V-22 helicopters, one week after eight Air Force Special Operations Command service members died in a crash off the coast of Japan.


The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps took the extraordinary step of grounding hundreds of aircraft after a preliminary investigation of last week’s crash indicated that a materiel failure — that something went wrong with the aircraft — and not a mistake by the crew led to the deaths.

The crash raised new questions about the safety of the Osprey, which has been involved in multiple fatal accidents over its relatively short time in service. Japan grounded its fleet of 14 Ospreys after the crash.

Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, head of Air Force Special Operations Command, directed the standdown “to mitigate risk while the investigation continues,” the command said in a statement. “Preliminary investigation information indicates a potential materiel failure caused the mishap, but the underlying cause of the failure is unknown at this time.”

In a separate notice, Naval Air Systems Command said it was grounding all Ospreys. The command is responsible for the Marine Corps and Navy variants of the aircraft.

The Air Force said it was unknown how long the aircraft would be grounded. It said the standdown was expected to remain in place until the investigation determined the cause of the Japan crash and made recommendations to allow the fleet to return to operations.

In Japan, where U.S. military Ospreys had a non-fatal crash once and a number of incidents, the latest accident has rekindled safety concerns just as the Japanese government builds a new base for its fleet of Ospreys.


Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters in Tokyo the government has already formally requested that the U.S. military ensure the safety of Ospreys before their flights, but that Tokyo will seek further information from the U.S. side because it also affects the safety of Japan’s own Osprey fleet.

“Needless to say, ensuring flight safety is the top priority of aircraft operation,” Matsuno said. “Japanese Self-Defense Force also operate Ospreys, and in order to ensure their flight safety, we will continue to ask the U.S. side to share information with us.”

The U.S.-made Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster, like an airplane, during flight.

Its unique design has been a factor in multiple incidents. While the investigation into last week’s crash has only just begun, it renewed attention on the aircraft’s safety record, particularly on a mechanical problem with the clutch that has troubled the program for more than a decade. There also have been questions as to whether all parts of the Osprey have been manufactured according to safety specifications.

In August, the Marines found that a fatal 2022 Osprey crash was caused by a clutch failure, but the root cause was still unknown. In its report on the crash, the Marines forewarned that future incidents “are impossible to prevent” without improvements to flight control system software, drivetrain component material strength, and robust inspection requirements.”


Air Force Special Operations Command has 51 Ospreys, the U.S. Marine Corps flies as many as 400 and U.S. Navy operates 27.

The Osprey is still a relatively young aircraft in the military’s fleet — the first Ospreys only became operational in 2007 after decades of testing. But more than 50 troops have died either flight testing the Osprey or conducting training flights in the aircraft, including 20 deaths in four crashes over the past 20 months.

An Osprey accident in August in Australia killed three Marines. That accident also is still under investigation.
 

Ethnic Vagina Finder

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Pieces of shyt stay crashing. It’s something with when the engine turns from liftoff to flying level.
I was in an F-18 unit. The manuals to maintain that aircraft are constantly being updated.


That aircraft is worse. 10 x worse. And the Marine Corps is cheap when it comes to everything. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s had issues since it was first flown.
 
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The CV and MV are much safer than the old V. When I was an FE, a lot of engineers shat bricks at the thought of being assigned to CV school because it was a year in Cannon.

In addition to that, the CV doesn't have autorotation and the pilots can't do any kind of military power over the two main computers.

It's like flying an iPhone.
 
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Can’t they just parachute out when it looks like failure is imminent? it’s not a passenger aircraft

The CV doesn't crash like a jet...that bytch goes down spinning or tossing unless it's forward configured and is at Vmca.

Unless you got that bytch strapped on beforehand..goodnight.
 
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This is the boldface for what they probably encountered...


UNCOMMANDED NACELLE MOVEMENT

1. NACELLE MOVEMENT - ATTEMPT TO OVERRIDE
2. NACELLE CONTROL DISABLE SWITCHES - DEPRESS



Basically...if the nacelles are moving and them bytches don't disengage after pressing the control disable switches...cancel Christmas.

The thing about the CV is that it is designed for low altitude flight as its not pressurized as well.

That means that you will most likely encounter ground effect as well as not have time to ditch safely. Those props are big as fukk and there will be metal, earth, fire, hot liquids, fuel, hydro, etc flying around.

22s are not to be taken lightly.
 
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