Why the Recent Osprey Crash Is Turning Heads: An Explainer

On April 9, the Air Force announced that a CV-22 Opsrey crashed in the Zabul Province of southern Afghanistan, killing three service members, one civilian employee, and injuring many others. The aircraft had only been delivered to Afghanistan a few days before as part of the first deployment of Air Force Osreys to the country. The cause of the crash is currently being investigated — the Taliban claimed credit, but the International Security Assistance Force says that the cause remains unknown, and an investigation is underway. Chris Castelli at Inside Defense reported over the weekend that there was a firefight near the crash site, increasing the likelihood that it was taken down by enemy fire. Castelli also reported that the military destroyed the wreckage of the CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, as is their official policy to protect sensitivity technology, but also making an engineering investigation impossible.

Despite the reports of enemy fire, the history of the Osprey program (which POGO called for the cancelation of) has many commenters wondering if the cause of the crash was a mechanical failure. The program waived a number of operational tests in 1999 due to the aircraft's inability to meet specified requirements, pushing the V-22 into production prematurely, and in 2003 the Pentagon's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, Thomas Christie, said he was "concerned" that testing did not prove that the aircraft was "operationally effective". Two Osprey crashes in 2000 killed 23 Marines, and in 2005 the Air Force's version of the V-22 experienced a compressor stall of both engines, presumably due to icing problems. Congress consistently supported the program, including using funding for night goggles and other military equipment to increase V-22 funding. Last March a loose bolt in the Marine's version of the Osprey in Iraq grounded the whole fleet.

POGO will continue to monitor the investigation and sends our condolences to the families who lost their loved ones.

For more information on POGO's work on the V-22 Osprey program, go to our investigations page here.

-- Mandy Smithberger

UPDATE: Adding even more context, Christopher Castelli of Inside Defense reports on another Osprey accident that received less attention. The Air Force is investigating a CV-22 "class A" mishap (defined as a mishap that results in $1 million or more worth of damage and/or loss of life) that occurred at Kirkland Air Force Base in New Mexico on March 2, 2009 after a single engine failure shortly after takeoff. Kirkland Spokeswoman Col. Robyn Chumley denied that there were any injuries or property damage associated with the mishap.

Defense Tech also offers an interesting theory about the Afghanistan crash here.

Comments

[Terry]

from the great G2mil.com blog. There are links there. http://www.g2mil.com/crumbles.htm

Apr 11, 2010 - CV-22 Crash Data

A recent "Aviation Week" article "The Need for Speed" quoted Col. Clay Hutmacher from the 160th Special Ops Aviation Regiment:

“Above 4,000 ft., there’s a significant [hovering] limitation on the V-22,” he said. Tiltrotor engineers concede that while the V-22 hovers well in many situations, the special twist and size of its “proprotors” leave it unable to carry as much useful load pound-for-pound as most helicopters hovering in similar conditions.

“I’m not disparaging the V-22,” Hutmacher said. Hovering ability, however, is critical to the 160th, because “at the end of the day, our mission is going to terminate in a hover.”

One CV-22 didn't terminate in a hover, and crashed 7 miles west of Qulat city, Afghanistan, which is listed at 5085 feet altitude, about the same as Denver CO. What does the pilots manual say? Some pilots and aviation experts have quietly expressed alarm that the manual includes old performance objectives in their charts rather than results from testing. If pilots use charts that exaggerate range and altitude performance, they may come up short and crash.

For example, some V-22 salesmen claim that V-22s can hover at 10,000 feet, although official stats have long showed a 7000 feet (HOGE) hover capability. NAVAIR and Boeing recently downgraded that to 5400 feet as V-22s were sent to Afghanistan. The actual figure varies depending on temperature and gross weight (payload and fuel.) Col. Hutmacher said HOGE is less than 4000 feet, yet if the mishap CV-22 pilots assumed it was safe to hover up to 5400 feet, that may have caused their fatal crash!

In comparison, the common Blackhawk helicopter has one-third the engine power and is a third smaller than the V-22, yet its big rotors allow it to lift the same payload vertically. This is because the V-22 has smaller, twisted "proprotors." While the V-22 is limited to landing at 5400 feet, (or perhaps 4000 feet) an Army Blackhawk crashed last year during a routine training operation in Colorado while attempting to land at 14,200 feet!

Apr 10, 2010 - CV-22 Crash
Here is my uninformed knee-jerk analysis of Thursday's CV-22 crash. The pilot was very experienced. Since a pilot and flight engineer died while others survived, I suspect it hit nose first. I will guess at two causes.

1. The CV-22 was performing out of its very restricted flight envelope, trying to hover at mid-altitude with payload to perform a mission helicopters often do. It failed during a landing approach, rolled to one side and impacted nose first. Pilot error of course, but by a senior pilot called a "CV-22 evaluator" by the USAF.

2. The other possibility is an engine failure. The V-22 can fly with one engine out in the airplane mode only! If in the helo mode, it must convert to the airplane mode but needs several seconds and 2000 feet of altitude. If that is not an option, it makes a very hard crash landing since it can't autorotate.

Recall the USAF has still not released the summary of a Class A CV-22 mishap at Kirkland on Mar 2, 2009. Why? And would the timely release of that mishap report provided information to the crew of this CV-22 as how to avoid problems? And recall the recent USAF CSAR report that noted the V-22 cannot safely hover at over 4000 feet.

Apr 4, 2010 - The V-22 Disaster

The V-22 scandal just gets worse. An Army helicopter brigade has been assigned to support Marines in Afghanistan since their new ultra-expensive MV-22s can't do the job: The V-22 Disaster.