US Asked to Ground All Ospreys in Japan Following Crash

A VM-22 Osprey with a load of aid lands at Jeremie Airport in Jeremie, Haiti, on Aug. 28, 2021. Alex Brandon/AP Photo

Japan has asked the United States military to ground all Osprey aircraft not engaged in emergency recovery operations following a training mission crash involving one of the aircraft.

A U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed into the ocean off the country’s southern coast during a training mission Wednesday, killing at least one of the eight crew members. The search is still ongoing for the other seven missing crew members. At this stage, the cause of the crash has not yet been revealed.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters officials had asked the U.S. military to ground all Osprey flights in the meantime, except those involved in the search and rescue of the missing crew. Japanese defense officials have confirmed that only one U.S. Osprey has joined the rescue operation since the crash.

Senior Japanese Defense Ministry official Taro Yamato recently told a parliamentary hearing that Japan plans to suspend flights of all 14 of its Ospreys for the time being as well. A planned training flight at the Metabaru army camp in the Saga prefecture in southern Japan has been canceled as a result.

According to the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command, the crashed Osprey was from Yokota Air Base and assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Wing. From what few details are available, the Osprey departed the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi prefecture on a training mission.

Soon after take off, the coast guard received an emergency call, with the crew of the Osprey requesting an emergency landing at the Yakushima airport. It reportedly then disappeared from the radar. Local news outlets quoted a Yakushima resident as saying he saw the aircraft turned upside down, with fire coming from one of its engines, and then an explosion before it fell to the sea. The coast guard, as well as Japanese troops, have been searching for the missing aircraft and its crew.

Ospreys Have a Long List of Accidents

The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands in the same way as a helicopter. It differs from most aircraft in its ability to swap while in flight to rotate its propellers forward and cruise like a regular aircraft. However, it has long been a controversial capability for the U.S. defense forces owing to its poor safety record and multiple accidents. At least a dozen incidents have seen multiple people killed since the aircraft became operational in 2007.

Last year, Air Force Special Operations Command ordered a temporary stand-down of its Osprey fleet following safety incidents where the clutch slipped, causing an uneven power distribution to the rotors.

Only a few months ago, an Osprey aircraft was involved in an incident at Melville Island in Australia. The Aug. 27 crash resulted in three deaths. Another crash occurred June 2022 in California, and resulted in five fatalities; the cause of the crash was put down to mechanical failure. In 2017, the Osprey was at the center of another three fatalities when one of the aircraft crashed off the coast of Rockhampton in Australia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.