This is not new...

Or unexpected. It was actually brought up at least 15 years ago.

On the heels of 12 major mishaps in the last four years, the military’s first tiltrotor aircraft program must take “immediate and decisive action” to avoid more loss and tragedy, a new comprehensive review released Friday by the U.S. Navy finds.

The V-22 Osprey, which the Navy uses for aircraft carrier onboard delivery missions, is overdue for a midlife upgrade, spending far too much on unscheduled maintenance and contending with undertrained maintainers — all of which spell increased risk for a platform that has faced intense scrutiny since its earliest days in the air. The 33-page review recommends the establishment of a readiness and safety steering board to report annually to top officials on the Osprey’s status; initiation of the overdue midlife upgrade; and changes to establish a “proactive safety system” to identify and address mechanical issues before mishaps occur.

Full article, HERE from Military Times.

The V-22 is a touchy beast, VERY complicated, and has always been a maintenance nightmare, exceeding the ‘standard’ of less than 15 manhours/flight hour.

Another issue is training and retaining maintenance personnel who can actually fix them. Standard ‘fleet’ training really doesn’t apply, due to the multiplicity of complex systems to make the V-22 basically fly sideways in its ‘helicopter’ mode.

Yes, there were pilot training issues, most of those have been ironed out over time, but another issue is that the USAF tends to not cooperate with the Navy/Marines on investigations, maintenance issues, etc. We always referred to it as the Air Force playing ‘I’ve got a secret’...

But something needs to be done before we lose more troops, crews, and aircraft!

In other news, I nominate the combined USMA/USNA glee squads to do the National Anthem at the Super Bowl!