The Air Force said Tuesday that investigators have determined a parts failure occurred during an Osprey crash in Japan in November that killed all eight airmen on board, but the root cause of the crash is still unknown.
Air Force Special Operations Command said in a statement that the two investigations into the deadly crash, a Safety Investigation Board probe and an Accident Investigation Board inquiry, are still ongoing.
"At this time, the material failure that occurred is known, but the cause of the failure has not been determined," Air Force Special Operations Command said. "Engineering testing and analysis is ongoing to understand the cause of the material failure, a critical part of the investigation."
This statement is odd.. Sounds like a part failure due to material failure, Sounds like they do in fact understand the material failure, but cannot explain how a material quality concern was not detected, nor an impending failure in a component. This does explain continued grounding however.