Noticeable increase in accidents
US military aircraft of one type are not allowed to take off
December 7, 2023, 12:18 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
In November, eight people died when a US military V-22 Osprey aircraft crashed off the coast of Japan. What is striking is that there have been repeated accidents with this type of aircraft in the past. The USA is now drawing conclusions.
Following the crash of a US military aircraft last week, the US Army has temporarily withdrawn hundreds of V-22 Osprey aircraft from service. The entire fleet of this type should remain on the ground while investigations into the cause of the crash are ongoing, as the US Air Force (Air Force Special Operations Command, AFSOC) and the US Navy (US Naval Air Systems Command, NAVAIR) announced.
Preliminary results indicated a possible material defect, AFSOC wrote. NAVAIR then announced that it was agreeing with the decision as a precautionary measure. According to the Washington Post, the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps use more than 400 V-22 aircraft. There have been repeated accidents with this type of aircraft in the past. Most recently, on November 29th, a US military Osprey with eight people on board crashed off the coast of Japan. The US military said on Tuesday that three bodies had been recovered and three more had been located.
Boeing and Bell, which jointly manufacture the aircraft, are “ready to provide assistance if the US military requests it,” the companies told The Washington Post. Just in August, three US Marines died during an exercise in Australia when they crashed another Osprey model. According to the New York Times, more than 60 deaths have been linked to Osprey accidents since the US military began using the aircraft in the early 1990s.
According to the manufacturer, the machine takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter using rotors and can then fly like an airplane at high speed and at high altitude. Japan also uses Osprey models. In response to the latest accident, the country temporarily suspended all flights of its own 14 Ospreys.