The pause placed on V-22 Osprey flights follows a near-crash involving a tiltrotor last month
The US Defense Department has put flights of V-22 Ospreys on hold following a near-crash incident last month. The tiltrotor aircraft is a hybrid with the maneuverability of a helicopter, and higher speed and longer range of a turboprop plane.
Since its debut in 1989, the V-22 Osprey has been involved in multiple crashes, claiming the lives of 64 personnel and injuring 93 more, according to AP’s estimates.
Costing up to $70 million per unit, it is the primary assault support aircraft employed by the US Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC).
On Tuesday, AP reported that the head of Naval Air Systems Command, Vice Admiral Carl Chebi, made the decision last week “out of an abundance of caution.”
In November, an Osprey aircraft almost crashed at the Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico. No one sustained injuries in that latest incident, which was apparently caused by a metal weakness that is believed to have led to a separate deadly crash in Japan last year that left eight people dead.
After that incident, the Pentagon paused all V-22 Osprey flights for three months.
Several months prior, three US Marines perished in a similar incident during drills in Australia.
In March 2022, four crew members died in another crash involving an aircraft that was taking part in drills in Norway.
This November, AP published an extensive investigation into the numerous crashes involving the V-22 Osprey over the past few decades. Drawing on accident reports and flight data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, as well as interviews with current and former crew members and experts, the report indicated that the aircraft has seen a sharp spike in the number of serious incidents and safety issues since 2019.
According to AP, at the heart of many of these problems are features intrinsic to the V-22 Osprey’s design, such as its unorthodox proportions with relatively small propellers. The nature of the hybrid design also means that crews have to monitor a number of factors at once, and the aircraft is unforgiving in case of error, the news outlet said.
Despite the many setbacks, the Marine Corps apparently plans to operate the V-22 Osprey until 2050.
However, following AP’s analysis, several lawmakers urged Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to ground the fleet and thoroughly study the safety issues plaguing the aircraft.
