Japan suspends its Osprey flights after the fatal crash of a US Air Force aircraft

Japanese coast guard members pick up a floating object as they conduct search and rescue operation in the waters off Yakushima Island, Kagoshima prefecture, southern Japan Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after a U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed into waters off the southern coast during a training mission, officials said Thursday. (Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO (AP) — Japan suspended flights by its Osprey aircraft Thursday, officials said, the day after a U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed into the sea during a training mission.

Japanese coast guard helicopter and patrol vessel conduct search and rescue operation in the waters where a U.S. military Osprey aircraft crashed into off the coast of Yakushima Island, Kagoshima prefecture, southern Japan Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after a U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed into waters off the southern coast during a training mission, officials said Thursday. (Kyodo News via AP)

Tokyo has also asked the U.S. military to ground all Ospreys operating in Japan except for those searching for victims of the crash.

A Japanese coast guard marine sweeper conducts search and rescue operation in the waters where a U.S. military Osprey aircraft crashed into off the coast of Yakushima Island, Kagoshima prefecture, southern Japan Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after a U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed into waters off the southern coast during a training mission, officials said Thursday. (Kyodo News via AP)

A senior Defense Ministry official, Taro Yamato, told a parliamentary hearing that Japan has suspended flights of Ospreys beginning Thursday until details of the crash and safety are confirmed.

The U.S.-made Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster, like an airplane, during flight.

Ministry officials said a planned training flight Thursday at the Metabaru army camp in the Saga prefecture in southern Japan was canceled as part of the grounding of all 14 Japanese-owned Ospreys deployed at Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force bases.

Japan also asked the U.S. military to fly Ospreys deployed in Japan only after “their safety is confirmed,” except for the purpose of joining the ongoing search and rescue operations at the crash site, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokzu Matsuno told reporters. One U.S. Osprey has joined the rescue operation since the crash, Japanese defense officials said.

A Japanese coast guard escort ship, bottom, conducts search and rescue operation in the waters where a U.S. military Osprey aircraft crashed into off the coast of Yakushima Island, Kagoshima prefecture, southern Japan Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after a U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed into waters off the southern coast during a training mission, officials said Thursday. (Kyodo News via AP)

The U.S. Osprey crashed Wednesday off Japan’s southern coast, killing at least one of the eight crew members. The cause of the crash and the status of the seven others on board were not immediately known.

The coast guard, as well as Japanese troops, searched through the night, and on Thursday the coast guard started using sonar to search underwater for the broken aircraft that might have sunk to the sea bottom, at a depth of about 30 meters (100 feet).

Ospreys have had a number of crashes, including in Japan, where they are used at U.S. and Japanese military bases. In Okinawa, where about half of the 50,000 American troops are based, Gov. Denny Tamaki had said he would ask the U.S. military to suspend all Osprey flights in Japan.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to media at his office in Tokyo Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, after a U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed during a training mission off the country’s southern coast. Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after the incident, officials said Thursday. (Kyodo News via AP)

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, Ogawa said. They also found debris believed to be from the aircraft and an empty inflatable life raft about 1 kilometer (half a mile) off the eastern coast of Yakushima, he said.

NHK public television and other news outlets reported that the aircraft had requested an emergency landing at the Yakushima airport about five minutes before it was lost from radar.

NHK quoted a Yakushima resident as saying he saw the aircraft turn upside down, with fire coming from one of its engines, and then an explosion before it fell into the sea.

In this photo provided by Japan Coast Guard, debris believed to be from a U.S. military Osprey aircraft is seen off the coast of Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. A crew member who was recovered from the ocean after a U.S. military Osprey aircraft carrying six people crashed Wednesday off southern Japan has been pronounced dead, coast guard officials said. (Japan Coast Guard via AP)

Defense Ministry officials on Thursday refused to confirm the sequence of events or witness account, citing discussions with the U.S. side.

U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command said the CV-22B Osprey was from Yokota Air Base and assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Wing.

Ogawa said the aircraft had departed from the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi prefecture and crashed on its way to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa.

A Japan’s coast guard vessel and a helicopter conduct search and rescue operation around the site where a U.S. military Osprey aircraft was believed to crash in the sea off Yakushima Island, Kagoshima prefecture, southern Japan Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. Japan’s coast guard has found a person and debris in the ocean where a U.S. military Osprey aircraft carrying eight people crashed Wednesday off southern Japan, officials said. (Kyodo News via AP)

Yokota Air Base is home to U.S. Forces Japan and the Fifth Air Force. Six CV-22 Ospreys have been deployed at Yokota, including the one that crashed.

Last year, Air Force Special Operations Command ordered a temporary stand-down of its Osprey fleet following back-to-back safety incidents where the Osprey clutch slipped, causing an uneven distribution of power to its rotors.

A Japan’s coast guard vessel conducts search and rescue operation around the site where a U.S. military Osprey aircraft was believed to crash in the sea off Yakushima Island, Kagoshima prefecture, southern Japan Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. Japan’s coast guard has found a person and debris in the ocean where a U.S. military Osprey aircraft carrying eight people crashed Wednesday off southern Japan, officials said. (Kyodo News via AP)

The Marine Corps and Navy have reported similar clutch slips, and each service has worked to address the issue in their aircraft, however clutch failure was also cited in a 2022 fatal U.S. Marine Corps Osprey crash that killed five.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno speaks at a press conference in Tokyo Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. A U.S. military Osprey aircraft crashed Wednesday into the sea off southern Japan. “The government will confirm information of the damage and place the highest priority on saving lives,” Matsuno told reporters. (Kyodo News via AP)

According to the investigation of that crash, “dual hard clutch engagement” led to engine failure.

Separately, a U.S. Marine Corps Osprey with 23 Marines aboard crashed on a northern Australian island in August, killing three Marines and critically injuring at least five others who were taking part in a multinational training exercise.

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Copp reported from Washington.