4 killed in Osprey crash in Afghanistan

A USAF CV-22 crashed on 8 April in the Zabul Province of Afghanistan. Three crewmembers and one civilian were killed in the crash, and "numerous" military personnel were injured. The cause of the crash is under investigation, and is currently unknown. It was the first crash of an operational version of the V-22 Osprey.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Holycow. Seriuosly?

Do you have a source link? Was the crash during combat? Or routine flight? (Like the military would tell us what really happened.)

Ya it was too bad, I knew someone on that flight...

Here is what I posted in another thread, not knowing that there was already one.

That didn't make the news (no news = good news), but an Osprey V-22 went down in Afghanistan (killing 4).

Exact cause of the crash is unknown (as of now), but as Richard Whittle mentioned:

Richard Whittle, author of the newly published The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey, told Danger Room, “No one’s ever claimed the Osprey was invulnerable, and since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001, the U.S. has lost more than 300 rotorcraft there and in Iraq from various causes in crashes that killed nearly 500 people.” But, Whittle added: “If the cause was aerodynamic — if this Osprey lost its engines for some reason and was trying to autorotate to a landing, meaning float down on the cushion of lift even unpowered rotors can provide — then the critics who warned that this was a fatal weakness in the Osprey are going to be able to say ‘I told you so.”

I'm looking forward in reading that book (should be available late this month).

Exact title: The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey by Richard Whittle

From another source, I learn that several components don't last as planned, causing major problems.

www.g2mil.com...

His staff finally admitted that five fairly new MV-22s had been scrapped, even though no mishap reports were ever filed. Others damaged by mishaps were parked and reclassified as "Ground Instruction Aircraft", like the two pictured. The "Block A" V-22s used by the pilot training squadron are less than 8 years old, yet they are in such bad shape that a program to rebuild them has begun. Current production is a year behind schedule, with the last of FY2008 funded aircraft now being delivered.

The investigation is still ongoing, so there's not much information as to what happened yet. I'm keeping an eye out to try to find out, but it might be as much as three months before the AIB report is released.

I just found a source that is saying that the pilots lost SA during a brownout on landing. Mechanical failure and ground fire have been ruled out. That's coming from military spokespeople, and is NOT the final ruling of the AIB. However, they also have estimated that 80% of ALL rotorwing craft accidents have occured during loss of SA during landing, due to a loss of visual cues.

We might learn more on the in-and-out of the V-22, when the book by R. Whittle is out (mid, next week, April's end) but here is excerpt from Washington Post book review:

Since 1983, when the government handed Bell Helicopters its first contract for a transport that could take off and land like a helicopter but fly like an airplane, the Osprey has cost taxpayers $54 billion, killed 30 people, been grounded several times, endured horrible publicity and survived the wrath of Dick Cheney. Yet it's still around.

Whittle had covered the aircraft's development for 20 years. "Flying in the Osprey was like nothing else," he writes. "Its power and speed and novelty made the ride exhilarating." For $54 billion, I would hope so.

One of the lessons of Whittle's book is that no one misses a chance to swim in the giant pool of money and power that is the nation's capital, where the defense industry is the biggest fish of all.

As long as Marines in combat are happy with the Osprey, we might as well be happy too. Of course, even if the Marines weren't happy, something tells me the dream machine would still find a way to fly.

Full article could be found here:

www.washingtonpost.com...