U.S. Military Struggles to Stop Osprey Crashes After Decades of Flaws
Story by Alastair Gale •
12h
In late November, Amber Sax awoke to learn that eight more families were facing her nightmare. A deluge of messages told her that a U.S. military Osprey aircraft had crashed into the ocean near a Japanese island with eight crew on board.
Sax lost her husband, a 33-year-old Marine Corps pilot, in June 2022. The MV-22 Osprey co-piloted by Capt. John J. Sax reported a problem with an overheating gearbox and, moments later, plunged into the Southern California desert, killing all five aboard.
The Japan crash, in which all eight crew were later confirmed dead, led the U.S. military to ground its entire operational fleet of more than 400 Ospreys for the first time. In 11 crashes involving the aircraft since 1992, 61 service members and other passengers have died.
The crash has reignited doubts among some military families and engineers about whether the Osprey’s unusual design—a hybrid of helicopter and airplane—can be made fully safe. The military has blamed some incidents, including the one in California, on faults in the aircraft’s gearbox that can cause power surges to the rotors.
Amber Sax says the Marines haven’t fully explained what the problem was and how it can be fixed.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/u-s-military-struggles-to-stop-osprey-crashes-after-decades-of-flaws/ar-AA1lIaDS
