US military grounds entire Osprey tiltrotor fleet over safety concerns
- Reference: 1733857566
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/12/10/us_military_osprey/
- Source link:
A spokesperson for the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) told The Register that the decision had been made following an incident where one of the aircraft made an emergency landing.
"Out of an abundance of caution, NAVAIR recommended an operational pause for all V-22 Osprey variants December 6. This decision comes following a recent precautionary landing of a CV-22. There were no injuries to the crew," he explained.
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"The safety of our V-22 aircrew is our top priority. We are committed to ensuring our Sailors, Airmen, and Marines are able to successfully complete their missions and return home safely."
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The move comes after a V-22, operating out of the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) in Florida, was forced to make a "precautionary landing," its spokesperson told us. No one was injured in the incident.
The decision comes barely a year after the last grounding of the V-22 fleet, which came after a [4]fatal crash by a V-22 operated by the Air Force which killed both pilots and six passengers. The cause of that crash was reportedly one of the two engines failed, and the fleet was grounded for three months of checks.
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The aircraft's tiltrotor design, while offering significant advantages in terms of speed, range, and short or vertical lift-off capability, is also incredibly complicated. The aircraft has gained a reputation for unreliability, with four crashes and 30 fatalities occurring during the nine-year testing period, and one ex-pilot has [6]claimed the design was rushed through testing.
[7]UK.gov confirms it won't be buying V-22 Ospreys for new aircraft carriers
[8]Obama gets personal V-22 Osprey tiltrotor
[9]Flying gyrocopter jump-jeep gets $3m from DARPA
[10]Who needs sailors? US Navy's latest robo-ship can run itself for 30 days
Last month an [11]investigation by the Associated Press reported that the top three most serious types of incidents for the aircraft were up to 46 percent between 2019 and 2023, despite the total number of flying hours falling. Overall safety issues were up 18 percent in the same period.
The report suggests that the complex design of the [12]Boeing -Bell aircraft, and the stresses and strains of flight, are causing parts to wear out more quickly than expected. Most of the accidents reported were related to engine issues and last month's incident may have been more serious than the military is saying, otherwise why ground the entire fleet?
Nevertheless, the military isn't giving up on the design. In 2022 the winner of the military's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft was [13]announced and it's another tiltrotor design — the Bell V-280 Valor. That aircraft is designed to replace the Black Hawk transport helicopter and is forecast to fly in 2027 at the earliest. ®
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[4] https://apnews.com/article/osprey-crash-crew-air-force-japan-2198524cd99fab910e649b10c37fa6bd
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z1jIGe8-7pcEO11KTVW-HgAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.wired.com/2012/10/air-force-silenced-general/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2017/03/24/uk_rules_out_v22_osprey_queen_elizabeth_carriers/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2011/04/14/ospreys_for_hmx_1/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2010/09/29/aai_transformer_tx_award/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/22/us_navy_autonomous_ship/
[11] https://apnews.com/article/osprey-crashes-safety-problems-military-takeaways-0fad201081f34d9030c7c6ff88ed03d0
[12] https://search.theregister.com/?q=Boeing
[13] https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2022-12-06/us-selects-bells-v-280-valor-tiltrotor-new-assault-aircraft
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: ... a bit late, innit?
The other vertical lift option, helicopters, also has a fairly high failure rate. Also, the most recent actual fatal Osprey crash off Japan was due to the pilots ignoring the big flashing "land now or crash" sign for some unknown reason.
An interesting concept
This is one of those engineering concepts that looks great in comics or in a funding proposal, assuming they class as different publications, but in reality it requires too many bleeding edge technologies. My Father was peripherally involved in some of the tilt technology and always said that the tip noise was going to be the least of the issues on board. While this concept may be great for small drones, it is not one which scales up very well as a number of the stresses went up exponentially rather than as a linear function as size increased. Once you put on airframe hours you approach the point where you no longer know enough about the condition of each component without continually strip-down inspections which create additional risks as over-maintenance is an actual thing even ignoring the flying hours vs repair hours ratio.
There was a better option which would have been to use the concept of the Fairey Rotodyne from the 50's which had all the elements which Osprey was supposed to cover but with a much lower level of complexity
Re: An interesting concept
What's the big issue, though? The design does seem simple enough, and there's plenty of helicopters with tandem rotors. Is it the gyroscope effect of the rotating propellers moving from one position to another which is adding too much weird stress?
Re: An interesting concept
Well, the tandem rotors are fixed to a solid-ish airframe. In a tiltrotor they're on some long wobbly stub wings, those stub wings have big hinges that have to take the full lift/thrust, and the transition from vertical to forward orientation is anything but simple. And that's the obvious stuff. At a structural and systems level there will be vastly more complications, as one example the fuel and control connections to engines that swing. The whole tiltrotor concept could be summed up as "nice idea, now come up with something practical". And having not really got much out of the the Osprey programme than some big bills, the Pentagon are now doubling down in the hope of an even more complex, higher performance tiltrotor to replace the proven robustness and practicality of the Black Hawk, and that inevitably is going to cost a fortune (and a few lives in development through to early service).
Interestingly, in respect of the Fairey Rotodyne, the Sikorsky-Boeing design that the Pentagon turned down had some aspects in common (fixed rotors and separate forward propulsion). I suppose the Pentagon are just a bunch of magpies, forever attracted to glitter and novelty, without any concept of value.
Re: An interesting concept
Excellent insight, thanks for sharing!
Re: An interesting concept
Very interesting read. Sadly, the Rotodyne suffers (like helicopters) from forward flight airspeed limitation due to main rotor forward transonic drag and retreating blade stall. It was hoped that tilt rotors would not have that same limitation but it appears they have a whole number of others.
so loud...
I have to say, I am sad they aren't flying right now - they frequently fly over our house, and we love to watch them come over, but they are so very bloody noisy...
Re: so loud...
Yes, but they’re designed for defence and attack optimisation, not for keeping the neighbours sweet!
Unfortunately the two goals are often mutually exclusive, and unfortunately for you in this case. You have my empathy, but needs must…
For the record, I have to personally endure Swiss Airforce F-18s screaming low over my mountain “retreat” on a regular basis, together with the occasional sonic boom from an overly enthusiastic trainee fighter pilot, which is akin to a bomb going off next door!!
…But at least I feel “safe and secure” by it all. Honestly…
Can't Boeing just fix this in software?
... a bit late, innit?
I mean, I only really listened to the WTYP episode, but it is described as a machine to kill marines in there...