The US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has issued an operational pause for all Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft flights across the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force as of December 6, 2024.
The decision, first reported by AP, follows a precautionary landing of a US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) CV-22 Osprey on November 20, 2024, at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, likely due to a material failure.
“Out of an abundance of caution, NAVAIR recommended an operational pause for all V-22 Osprey variants [December] 6, 2024,” NAVAIR spokesperson Neil Lobeda said in a statement. “This decision comes following a recent precautionary landing of a CV-22. There were no injuries to the crew.”
Suspected material failure
The November 2024 incident, which involved a crew of four, resulted in no injuries. However, it bore concerning similarities to a deadly crash on November 29, 2023, off the coast of Japan. That crash, which claimed the lives of eight service members, was attributed to inclusions, weakened spots in the metal used for critical gears inside the Osprey’s transmission.
According to the results of an investigation released on August 1, 2024, by the AFSOC, the Japan crash was caused by a catastrophic failure in the left-hand prop rotor gearbox. The failure led to a cascading breakdown of the aircraft’s drive system, creating an unrecoverable instantaneous asymmetric lift condition.
During the recent incident at Cannon Air Force Base, the crew identified the failure in time to perform a safe emergency landing.
The V-22 Osprey under scrutiny
The operational pause underscores ongoing concerns about the V-22 Osprey’s mechanical reliability and safety, which have been subjects of scrutiny for years. The tiltrotor aircraft, capable of vertical takeoff and landing, has faced criticism for its complex design and history of safety issues.
NAVAIR has not indicated how long the operational pause will last. It affects not only military operations but also training schedules.
The V-22 Osprey program has faced heightened scrutiny following two deadly accidents in 2023, which led to a global grounding of tiltrotor aircraft in early December of that year. NAVAIR formally ended the grounding on March 8, 2024. However, the V-22 fleet has since operated under a restricted flight envelope that limits its mission capabilities.
“NAVAIR is establishing criteria for return to full unrestricted flight through engineering testing and analysis,” Vice Admiral Chebi, overseeing the program’s recovery, explained. “To reduce risk to the fleet, current flight restrictions will remain in place until these criteria are met. A return to full mission capability is not expected to occur before mid-2025.”
The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF), which operates several MV-22 aircraft, also briefly suspended flights in July 2023. This decision followed the release of a report by the US Marine Corps, which identified the cause of a fatal Osprey crash in California in June 2022 as an unexpected mechanical failure known as hard clutch engagement.