U.S. Air Force crews from the Japan-based 353rd Special Operations Wing began flying the CV-22 Osprey once more Tuesday, seven months after certainly one of the aircraft crashed during a training mission, killing all eight airmen on board.
The return to flying followed a “multi-phased” approach to make sure the readiness of crews and follows a “meticulous and data-driven approach” that features the event of added safety controls, the Air Force said in a news release.
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“We remain steadfast in our commitment to making sure the security of the boys and girls who operate our aircraft and the security of our community each on base and in Japan,” twenty first Special Operations Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Matthew Davis said in an announcement. “These safety mitigation measures have been taken seriously, and we might not fly this aircraft without full confidence within the measures, the upkeep professionals implementing them, and the expert professionals who fly it.”
The U.S. military has said it doesn’t expect its fleet of greater than 400 tiltrotor Osprey aircraft to return to full flying operations until not less than mid-2025. Naval Air Systems Command, which leads the joint program office overseeing the aircraft, began allowing the Osprey to fly again in March after a three-month grounding was lifted but with added restrictions.
Ospreys might be flown like an airplane and take off and land like a helicopter. Its vertical take offs and landings make it useful for carrier landings in addition to for special operators operating in austere environments. The controversial aircraft has suffered a string of fatal crashes since being introduced into special operations greater than 20 years ago with 4 mishaps accountable for the deaths of 20 service members within the last two years.
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The military grounded the Ospreys in 2022 and again in 2023, after a series of “hard clutch engagements” that occurred when the input quill assembly, which attaches the Osprey’s engine to its proprotor gear box, wore out sooner than expected. A redesigned clutch is anticipated to start testing with fielding anticipated mid-2025. Testing can also be underway on a vibration sensing system upgrade to discover complements that have to replaced and a proprotor gearbox pinion bearing redesign is awaiting production and installation.
The military has said the Nov. 29 crash of GUNDAM 22 was the results of a fabric failure that hadn’t been seen before on the Osprey. An investigation into that crash is nearing completion.
The Marine Corps, which operates a whole lot of the aircraft, used them in Sweden as a part of Exercise Baltic Operations with the twenty fourth Marine Expeditionary Unit, which last week conducted flight operations with the Osprey from the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp within the Mediterranean Sea. The Navy, which owns about 30 of the aircraft, is sidelined from using them in its carrier support mission and stays barred from flying them greater than half-hour from an airfield where they may land in an emergency.
The Air Force owns about 50 Ospreys. While the 353rd resumes flying, crews from the twenty seventh Special Operations Wing, based at Cannon Air Force Base, Recent Mexico, have also resumed limited flying operations based on aircraft availability after spending months maintaining their proficiency in simulator training, something Japan-based crews have also done while preparing to return to the air. That features putting pilots and flight engineers through a selected return-to-flight simulator syllabus, Capt. Paul Danielson, a flight commander and Osprey pilot with the Cannon-based twentieth Special Operations Squadron, told Air Force Times.
Cannon-based maintainers continued sustainment essential on the CV-22s in the course of the stand down and were trained on maintenance protocols directed by NAVAIR to return to fly, twentieth Special Operations Maintenance Squadron Commander Maj. Shelby Olivera said, adding that they’re also completing rigorous inspections. Squadrons are progressing through those protocols based on aircraft maintenance needs and personnel experience levels, she said.
Because the twentieth Special Operations Squadron focuses on reaching basic proficiency, the unit is first specializing in getting flight instructors back within the air. Pilots and maintainers look are looking forward to getting Ospreys flying once more, Danielson and Olivera said.
“The morale of the squadron, I feel, has gone up just seeing people fly,” Danielson said. “There’s also a superb balance of understanding from the the crews that aren’t flying, understanding that the leadership is doing what’s best just ensure safety moving forward.”
Courtney Mabeus-Brown is the senior reporter at Air Force Times. She is an award-winning journalist who previously covered the military for Navy Times and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., where she first set foot on an aircraft carrier. Her work has also appeared in The Recent York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy and more.