US Air Force Osprey Crashes Off Japan During Training, Killing At Least 1 Of The Eight On Board

TOKYO, Japan – A U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed during a training flight off the country’s southern coast on Wednesday, killing at least one of the eight crew members, according to the Japanese coast guard.

According to Japanese coast guard spokes Kazuo Ogawa, the cause of the disaster and the condition of the seven other people on board were not immediately known.

The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that can take off and land like a helicopter but can rotate its propellers forward and travel much faster, like an airplane, during flight.

Ospreys have been involved in several mishaps, especially in Japan, where they are stationed at U.S. and Japanese military sites. Gov. Denny Tamaki of Okinawa, where almost half of the 50,000 American troops are stationed, told reporters Wednesday that he will ask the U.S. military to cease all Osprey flights in Japan.

Ogawa stated that the coast guard received an emergency contact from a fishing boat near the disaster scene off Yakushima, an island south of Kagoshima on Kyushu’s southern main island.

US Air Force Osprey Crashes Off Japan During Training, Killing At Least One Of The Eight On Board

Ogawa said Coast Guard aircraft and patrol boats discovered one male crew member, who was later confirmed dead by a doctor at a neighboring port. He said that they discovered gray debris thought to be from the aircraft as well as an empty inflatable life raft in a region around 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) off the eastern shore of Yakushima.

The Coast Guard said it expected to search throughout the night.

According to Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, the Osprey vanished from radar moments before the Coast Guard received the emergency call. The plane sought an emergency landing at Yakushima airport about five minutes before it vanished from radar, according to NHK public television and other news sites.

According to NHK, a Yakushima resident observed the plane turning upside down, with fire emerging from its engines and an explosion before it crashed into the sea.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he would seek more information from the U.S. military, but he did not specify whether he would seek a temporary halt to Osprey operations in Japan.

According to the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command, the CV-22B Osprey was assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Wing at Yokota Air Base.

US Air Force Osprey Crashes Off Japan During Training, Killing At Least One Of The Eight On Board

According to Ogawa, the plane took off from the US Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi prefecture and crashed on its route to Okinawa’s Kadena Air Base.

Hiroyuki Miyazawa, Japan’s Vice Defense Minister, said it tried an emergency sea landing and quoted the U.S. military as saying its pilot “did everything possible until the last minute.”

U.S. Forces Japan and the Fifth Air Force are based at Yokota Air Base. Six CV-22 Ospreys, including the one that crashed, were stationed at Yokota.

While the US Marine Corps flies most of the Ospreys stationed in Japan, the Air Force also has some.

Following back-to-back safety incidents where the Osprey clutch slid, creating an unequal power distribution to the rotors, the Air Force Special Operations Command ordered a temporary standdown of its Osprey fleet last year.

US Air Force Osprey Crashes Off Japan During Training, Killing At Least One Of The Eight On Board

Although the Marine Corps and Navy have reported similar clutch slips, and each service has sought to remedy the issue in their aircraft, clutch failure was also blamed in a deadly U.S. Marine Corps Osprey crash in 2022 that killed five people.

According to the collision investigation, “dual hard clutch engagement” caused engine failure.

Separately, in August, a US Marine Corps Osprey carrying 23 Marines crashed on a northern Australian island, killing three and badly injuring at least five others aboard during a multinational training exercise.

SOURCE – (AP)