A “catastrophic” gearbox failure caused an Osprey aircraft to crash off the coast of Japan last year, killing all eight personnel aboard, though crew actions also contributed to the accident, the U.S. Air Force said Thursday.
The Air Force’s V-22 Osprey model that crashed Nov.
29 near Yakushima island was on a routine training mission from Yokota Air Base. The remains of seven crew were recovered; the eighth wasn’t found after a 43-day search.
The U.S. military’s fleet of more than 400 V-22 Ospreys—built by a joint venture between Boeing and Textron’s Bell unit—was grounded for three months following the crash. In 11 crashes involving the aircraft since 1992, 61 U.S. service members and other passengers have died.
Ospreys have an unconventional design with a tilt-rotor that allows the aircraft to fly like a helicopter or a fixed-wing propeller plane. The V-22’s design and long-running issues with the gearbox have attracted congressional scrutiny and criticism from the families of those killed.
While Ospreys are back in the air, the Pentagon has said that they won’t be cleared for use over extended distances before mid-2025 at the earliest.
A new clutch is being developed for Osprey engines to address long-term gearbox issues.
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