An Air Force special ops squadron damaged three Ospreys in five days
A cable on a crew member's helmet snagged a lever that killed an Osprey's engine in mid-flight, while a parking mishap struck two other CV-22s.
Matt White
Posted on Sep 3, 2024 7:06 PM EDT
An Air Force special ops squadron that flies the CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft suffered two accidents involving three Osprey in five days in August 2023. Air Force photo by Airman Dennis Spain. Airman Dennis Spain
Two reports released recently by the Air Force detail the terrible, horrible, no-good very bad week of an Air Force CV-22 Osprey squadron at Cannon Air Force Base last year. In the span of five days, the 20th Special Operations Squadron at Cannon, New Mexico, which flies the Osprey, suffered two mishaps involving three of its CV-22 fleet, one a parking accident on the ground, the other a freak accidental engine shutdown that caused one of the $92 million aircraft to crash on a remote range.
The accidents occurred on Aug. 17 and 22, 2023 and had not been previously disclosed until the accident reports for both were released last week by Air Force Special Operations Command. There were no fatalities in either event. One crew member on the crashed Osprey suffered a concussion and associated injuries.
That second and more serious accident was the result of a bizarre series of events in an Osprey’s cockpit that even the Air Force investigators emphasized was “unintentional and unknowing.” As a crew member switched seats — a routine mid-flight event on Ospreys — a battery cable from their helmet’s night vision goggles snagged on the control lever for the plane’s right engine, and pulled it to “OFF,” just as the pilots were pulling out of a hover during gunnery practice.
The plane immediately fell to the ground, though power from the second still-running engine slowed its descent enough to spare the crew from serious injury.
https://taskandpurpose.com/three-osprey-five-days-mishaps/
