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22 December 2023
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US Air Force Osprey crashes off southern Japan
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A CV-22B Osprey assigned to the US Air Force's 353rd Special Operations Wing crashed into the East China Sea about one kilometre off Yakushima Island, Japan, on 29 November 2023, killing all eight airmen aboard. The Osprey, based at Yokota Air Base in Western Tokyo, was flying from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa Island in clear weather and light winds. Witnesses reported seeing the aircraft flying inverted with flames engulfing the aircraft's left nacelle before an explosion occurred and the aircraft subsequently crashed in waters east of the island near Yakushima Airport.
The crew belongs to the Air Force’s 353rd Special Operations Wing at Yokota Air Base outside Tokyo, Air Force Special Operations Command confirmed.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the Osprey disappeared from radar a few minutes before the coast guard received the emergency call. The aircraft requested an emergency landing at the Yakushima airport about five minutes before it was lost from radar,
Japanese coast guard spokesperson Kazuo Ogawa said the coast guard received an emergency call Wednesday afternoon from a fishing boat near the crash site off Yakushima, an island south of Kagoshima on the southern main island of Kyushu.
Coast guard aircraft and patrol boats found one male crew member, who was later pronounced dead by a doctor at a nearby port, Ogawa said. They also found gray debris believed to be from the aircraft and an empty inflatable life raft in an area about 0.6 miles off the eastern coast of Yakushima, he said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of the eight airmen and that there would be a “rigorous and thorough” investigation.
“The entire Department of Defense mourns alongside the families and the loved ones of those who lost their lives today in the service of their country,” he said in a statement. “My heart also goes out to those who were serving alongside these brave men and women in Japan.” He said the US was grateful for the search-and-rescue efforts by the Japanese military and coast guard and local communities, including fishermen.
One crew member, Staff Sgt. Jake M. Galliher, 24, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was identified last week after his body was recovered near the site of the crash.
The seven other crew members were identified as Maj. Jeffrey T. Hoernemann, 32, of Andover, Minnesota; Maj. Eric V. Spendlove, 36, of St. George, Utah; Maj. Luke A. Unrath, 34, of Riverside, California; Capt. Terrell K. Brayman, 32, of Pittsford, New York; Tech. Sgt. Zachary E. Lavoy, 33, of Oviedo, Florida; Staff Sgt. Jake M. Turnage, 25, of Kennesaw, Georgia; and Senior Airman Brian K. Johnson, 32, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
An Air Force investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing. Japan grounded its fleet of 14 Ospreys after the crash. The US Air Force grounded all of its CV-22 Ospreys one week later. The US Navy and Marines grounded their fleets of V-22 Ospreys pending the outcome of the CV-22 investigation.
The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but during flight it can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster like an airplane. While the US Marine Corps flies most of the Ospreys based in Japan, the Air Force also has some deployed there for special operations transport and supply missions around the Pacific.
As of November 2023, 16 V-22 Ospreys have been damaged beyond repair in accidents that have killed a total of 62 people. Four crashes killed a total of 30 people during testing from 1991 to 2000. Since the V-22 became operational in 2007, 12 crashes, including two in combat zones and several other accidents and incidents have killed a total of 33 people.
Most crashes have been with the most common of the three variants of the tiltrotor, the MV-22B, procured and flown by the US Marine Corps. A handful of crashes have been with the CV-22B, flown by US Air Force Special Operations Command. No crashes have yet occurred with the newest carrier onboard delivery variant, the CMV-22B, flown by the US Navy.
Sources: Military Times
The crew belongs to the Air Force’s 353rd Special Operations Wing at Yokota Air Base outside Tokyo, Air Force Special Operations Command confirmed.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the Osprey disappeared from radar a few minutes before the coast guard received the emergency call. The aircraft requested an emergency landing at the Yakushima airport about five minutes before it was lost from radar,
Japanese coast guard spokesperson Kazuo Ogawa said the coast guard received an emergency call Wednesday afternoon from a fishing boat near the crash site off Yakushima, an island south of Kagoshima on the southern main island of Kyushu.
Coast guard aircraft and patrol boats found one male crew member, who was later pronounced dead by a doctor at a nearby port, Ogawa said. They also found gray debris believed to be from the aircraft and an empty inflatable life raft in an area about 0.6 miles off the eastern coast of Yakushima, he said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of the eight airmen and that there would be a “rigorous and thorough” investigation.
“The entire Department of Defense mourns alongside the families and the loved ones of those who lost their lives today in the service of their country,” he said in a statement. “My heart also goes out to those who were serving alongside these brave men and women in Japan.” He said the US was grateful for the search-and-rescue efforts by the Japanese military and coast guard and local communities, including fishermen.
One crew member, Staff Sgt. Jake M. Galliher, 24, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was identified last week after his body was recovered near the site of the crash.
The seven other crew members were identified as Maj. Jeffrey T. Hoernemann, 32, of Andover, Minnesota; Maj. Eric V. Spendlove, 36, of St. George, Utah; Maj. Luke A. Unrath, 34, of Riverside, California; Capt. Terrell K. Brayman, 32, of Pittsford, New York; Tech. Sgt. Zachary E. Lavoy, 33, of Oviedo, Florida; Staff Sgt. Jake M. Turnage, 25, of Kennesaw, Georgia; and Senior Airman Brian K. Johnson, 32, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
An Air Force investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing. Japan grounded its fleet of 14 Ospreys after the crash. The US Air Force grounded all of its CV-22 Ospreys one week later. The US Navy and Marines grounded their fleets of V-22 Ospreys pending the outcome of the CV-22 investigation.
The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but during flight it can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster like an airplane. While the US Marine Corps flies most of the Ospreys based in Japan, the Air Force also has some deployed there for special operations transport and supply missions around the Pacific.
As of November 2023, 16 V-22 Ospreys have been damaged beyond repair in accidents that have killed a total of 62 people. Four crashes killed a total of 30 people during testing from 1991 to 2000. Since the V-22 became operational in 2007, 12 crashes, including two in combat zones and several other accidents and incidents have killed a total of 33 people.
Most crashes have been with the most common of the three variants of the tiltrotor, the MV-22B, procured and flown by the US Marine Corps. A handful of crashes have been with the CV-22B, flown by US Air Force Special Operations Command. No crashes have yet occurred with the newest carrier onboard delivery variant, the CMV-22B, flown by the US Navy.
Sources: Military Times
