Japan Grounds USMC MV-22s

[ORAC]

Alert 5 » Japan asks U.S. to suspend MV-22 flights - Military Aviation News (http://alert5.com/2016/12/14/japan-asks-u-s-to-suspend-mv-22-flights/)

Japan’s Defense Minister Tomomi Inada told reporters that she has asked the U.S. military to suspend flights of the MV-22 after one went down in waters off Okinawa on Dec. 13.

http://alert5.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/MV-22-crash-Okinawa.jpg

[Pontius Navigator]

All survived, two injured

[sandiego89]

Glad the crew got out. The starboard nacelle looks like it is the forward position (aircraft mode) and I can just make out a shattered prop-rotor underneath the graphic.

[ORAC]

AAR accident with the hose? Nacelles forward so not ship-to-air.

https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/3_TLoM9AV205xJB4PGBeWw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9NDUwO2g9MjU3O2lsPXBsYW5l/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2016-12-14T090514Z_1_LYNXMPECBD0HC_RTROPTP_2_JAPAN-OSPREY-CRASH.JPG.cf.jpg

TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States military on Wednesday grounded its tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey aircraft in Japan after Tokyo called for a halt to flights following a crash southwest of Okinawa island, the first accident involving the aircraft in the Asian nation. The aircraft has become a lightning rod for opposition to the U.S. military presence in Okinawa, with local groups seeking the closure of American bases saying it is prone to crash and poses a danger to residents.

A U.S.-operated Osprey ditched into the sea on Tuesday, injuring its crew of five after a hose connected to the aircraft broke during a refueling exercise. Images of the scene aired by Japan's public broadcaster NHK showed the aircraft broke into several pieces in waters close to the coast.

"No flights in Japan are planned today," said a U.S. Marine Corps spokesman in Okinawa. The U.S. military was still investigating the cause of the crash, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described as "regrettable" on Wednesday....... "We regret the accident, but we do not regret the work of our young pilots," Lieutenant General Lawrence D. Nicholson, the USMC commander on Okinawa, told a news briefing on the island broadcast by NHK.

[Fonsini]

And this right after the Japanese protested about the Osprey being based in Japan because it "crashes so often". Awkward.

As for still being based in Japan faced with increasing hostile locals, the US military does tend to act like Irish relatives - they visit you and never leave.

[tmmorris]

Alert 5 reporting ORAC is correct - prop struck AAR hose.

[Lonewolf_50]

https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/3_TLoM9AV205xJB4PGBeWw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9NDUwO2g9MjU3O2lsPXBsYW5l/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2016-12-14T090514Z_1_LYNXMPECBD0HC_RTROPTP_2_JAPAN-OSPREY-CRASH.JPG.cf.jpg

ORAC, I don't think that'll buff out.

[Fareastdriver]

At first it would seem to be a cast-iron pilot error. It is, however, unusual for a pilot to overrun the hose to that extent. It could be that the clutch failed on the HDU allowing the hose to run out uncontrolled and unstable.

Maybe it is nothing to do with the MV-22

[The Sultan]

Latest is aircraft was shaking as it would with damaged blades. Pilot elected to ditch rather than overflying populated area to reach base. I am sure that means nothing to the Okinawans. So no fault with aircraft or design.

The Sultan

[sandiego89]

Will be interesting to see the survival factors within the investigation if it was a ditching with the nacelles in aircraft mode. Wiki lists a 110 knot stall speed in airplane mode.


So I presume there is a KC-130 that came home with a shortened hose....

[SpazSinbad]

"...Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson said in a press conference today that the rotorcraft was conducting aerial refueling operations over the sea when the rotor blades struck the refueling line, damaging the aircraft.

“After the aircraft was unhooking, it was shaking violently,” Nicholson said of the Osprey from Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing...."
https://news.usni.org/2016/12/14/v-22-crash-off-okinawa-occurred-during-nighttime-aerial-refueling-halt-in-operations-ordered

USMC Press Conference Video: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/500120/osprey-press-conference-sb

[dagenham]

So in the aftermath two crticisms have been put to bed

1. The mv22 can be successfully ditched in aeroplane mode

2. Such a landing is survivable

Remarkable skills in recovery surely merit some positive comments on airmanship?

[SpazSinbad]

In the USNI article above this is what the good USMC Generale said:
"...Still, during the press conference he praised the crew’s decision to put the aircraft in the water instead of risk lives onshore. “I’m very proud of our young pilot, I’m very proud of the decision he made not to try to get to Futenma, not to try to get to Kadena, but to try to get to shore and try to land as close to the beach as possible,” he said. "An incredible decision under very very difficult circumstances.”..."

[sandiego89]

Dagenham: So in the aftermath two crticisms have been put to bed

1. The mv22 can be successfully ditched in aeroplane mode

2. Such a landing is survivable

Remarkable skills in recovery surely merit some positive comments on airmanship?


Indeed. Much has been written about the lack of autorotation and fears about a conventional forced landing- good to perhaps see some of that has been answered.

[spacetech]

Latest is aircraft was shaking as it would with damaged blades. Pilot elected to ditch rather than overflying populated area to reach base. I am sure that means nothing to the Okinawans. So no fault with aircraft or design.

The Sultan
We don't know WHY it happened. That is for NAVSAFECEN & JAGMAN investigations to determine.

Crashing into a residential house would be one the worst outcomes. Ditching the aircraft and bending some metal with everyone surviving is a far preferable outcome.

The Marine aviators are heroes for avoiding civilian casualties, no matter what the root cause