Navy and Marine V-22 Osprey’s have returned to flight with additional restrictions over a mechanical component of the tilt-rotor aircraft, Naval Air Systems Command announced on Friday.
“NAVAIR issued a fleet bulletin directing the inspection of V-22 Osprey to verify the flight hours on each Proprotor Gearbox prior to an aircraft’s next flight,” reads the Friday statement.
“Aircraft with PRGBs that currently meets or exceeds a predetermined flight-hour threshold will resume flights in accordance with controls instituted in the March 2024 interim flight clearance.”
The failure of the PRGB was found by the Air Force as the primary cause of the Nov. 23, 2023, crash of an Air Force Special Operations Command, according to the investigation.
“The metallurgical weakness within the V-22 transmission is thought to manifest itself relatively early in the component’s lifespan, meaning PRGBs with flight hours above the threshold have been deemed safe,” reads a Friday report from Flight Global.
The Navy had grounded its fleet of CMV-22B Ospreys that serve as the carrier onboard delivery aircraft from Dec. 9 to Dec. 14, a Navy official told USNI News on Friday. The “operational pause” followed an incident with an Air Force MV-22B over New Mexico related to the gearbox issue.
“The U.S. Navy has resumed flight operations of the CMV-22B Osprey in accordance with NAVAIR fleet bulletin and interim flight clearance for the V-22 Osprey program,” reads a statement from commander, Naval Air Forces.
“The Navy has confidence in the analysis by NAVAIR as the Airworthiness Certification Authority for the V-22 program, and Commander, Naval Air Forces will remain in close collaboration with key senior leaders across three services and continue to work to ensure our pilots and aircrew can fly and operate safely.”
Following last year’s grounding of the entire V-22 fleet, NAVAIR issued return to flight instructions that limit the flight envelope of the V-22s. For the Navy, that meant restrictions on flying the CMV-22Bs more than 30 minutes from land forcing aircraft carriers in the Pacific to rely on the legacy C-2A Greyhound for the COD mission.
A Navy official told USNI News as of Friday, the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group was operating with three CMV-22Bs and no C-2As. As on Monday, USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) was operating in the Philippine Sea, according to the USNI Fleet and Marine Tracker on Monday.
The Marines have implemented the guidance on their own fleet of MV-22Bs.
“The Marine Corps has implemented a series of controls on a subset of MV-22 Ospreys in alignment with the NAVAIR interim flight clearance,” reads a statement from the service.
“Affected aircraft will conduct operations with risk-mitigating controls. These measures ensure we continue to prioritize the safety of our aircrew while maintaining the highest levels of readiness to meet mission requirements. This guidance will be revisited as additional data and engineering assessments become available.”
