The U.S. Military has paused non-essential flights of its fleet of Bell Boeing V-22 Ospreys once again, after initial investigations into the emergency landing of an Air Force CV-22 last month indicated a potential material failure in a component.
The latest operational pause, first reported by the Associated Press, was recommended last week “out of an abundance of caution” by Vice Adm. Carl Chebi, head of Naval Air Systems Comman, which runs the V-22 program for the military.
The Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force have all confirmed they are adhering the recommendation.
The pause is being implemented almost exactly a year after the last grounding of the V-22 fleet, which was put in place following the fatal crash of a Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) CV-22 near Yakushima, Japan.
An investigation into that incident found the aircraft had suffered the material failure of a component in the gears inside the Osprey’s transmission. The crew received chip light warnings, but did not realize the seriousness of the failure and did not immediately land. All eight on board were killed.
The V-22 began its return to service in March with mitigation controls and new safety protocols, but was still operating under restrictions and was not expected to return to its full range of missions until at least 2025.
The latest incident — which took place at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico on Nov. 20 — also appeared to result from a material failure, but not in the same part. The crew received similar warnings to the Yakushima crash crew shortly after takeoff and lost an engine, but quickly landed the aircraft.
Lt. Col. Becky Heyse, AFSOC command spokeswoman, said the pause for all Osprey training flights “allows time and space for us to understand what happened.”
With files from the Associated Press
