US Air Force Ospreys grounded with successive malfunctions, concerns of accidents; Okinawa governor to “confirm safety” of MV22 flights from Futenma. (19au22)


Splendor of Okinawa: Lagerstroemia speciosa, roadside Uruma,18au22


The US Air Force vertical take-off and landing transport CV22 Osprey has defects that may result in accidents. On 18 August, it was learned that the US Air Force had ordered all CV22 aircraft grounded.


Yet, the MV22 Ospreys used by the US Marines deployed at the US Military Futenma Airfield were confirmed to be taking off and landing as of 18 August. It seems the Marines are not taking measures to ground their Ospreys, although the CV22 and the MV22 are structurally all but the same aircraft. Governor Denny Tamaki expressed his feelings thus, “If the same problems apply to the MV22, they should be grounded to confirm their safety.”

　

In response to a query by the Ryukyu Shimpo, the US Air Force in Okinawa claimed the grounding had begun on 16 August and would continue for the time being. The CV22s in Japan are stationed at Yokota Air  Base, but are temporarily deployed to other bases and so fly in and out of Kadena Air Base from time to time. 


This paper also queried the US Marines in Okinawa for a response on their MV22s, but, as of 18 August, there had been no answer.

　

According to the responses from the US Air Force and the US Government, the clutch connecting the CV22 engine to the propeller rotor can fail to engage for some reason or other. There have been 4 such incidents since 2017, and 2 of them have occurred in the last 6 weeks. So, the aircraft grounding was ordered by the Air Force Special Operations Command. 

　

The Command pointed out that if the clutch and the engine on one side fail to engage, a continuation of the flight with the other engine would be hindered. The Air Force cannot predict an end to the grounding until it determines the clear cause of the problem and measures to prevent its recurrence.


This year will mark 10 years since the MV22s were forcibly deployed in the prefecture for use by the Marines at Futenma Airfield in October of 2012. In 2016, an Osprey crashed along the coast at Abu in Nago. But on top of that, there have also been occurrences of fallen aircraft parts and emergency landings.

　

In response to a query from this paper, the Okinawa Defense Bureau stated, “We’ll request the American side to pay maximum attention to the safety aspects.”


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Friday 19 August 2022 at 06:54. Byline: Shohei Tsukazaki

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/ef5e2906b31c72b441a2d1e7d7671ca92c4f42c9


Denny in the News: news about Governor Denny Tamaki.

Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 

  1. This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. 

  2. Any suggestion on improving the translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.

  3. Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be gratefully appreciated.

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