AFSOC Grounds CV-22 Osprey Fleet Over Safety Issue

[Marauder06]

Don’t you love being in a community where people are so high strung you need to elaborate on stories and provide every minute detail to avoid someone shouting “sToLeN vAlOr!”

ETA- this is not in response to @Devildoc who posted just as I was posting

One of the reasons I'm sensitive about it is that it annoys me greatly when people, especially support types like me, want to go all Joe Dirt and "church it up" with their experiences. I know what I did and I'm proud of it. I think what I did was important but I never felt the need to exaggerate for cool guy points. But I have friends who do.

One in particular, who is not a member here, is fond of telling stories that are technically true, but allow themselves to be interpreted in a way that makes it out to be more than what it was. "When I was with the Task Force and under fire in Afghanistan..." I'm like "LOL, bro we were in the same unit and did the same kind of job. The only time you were "under fire" is when a 107 landed a street away on the FOB when you were walking to Burger King." I wish people could just be proud of what they actually did. It took all of us to... well, I was going to say "win the war" but I guess we didn't do that either. "It took all of us to get through what we did."

 

[Deleted member 2517]

One of the reasons I'm sensitive about it is that it annoys me greatly when people, especially support types like me, want to go all Joe Dirt and "church it up" with their experiences. I know what I did and I'm proud of it. I think what I did was important but I never felt the need to exaggerate for cool guy points. But I have friends who do.

One in particular, who is not a member here, is fond of telling stories that are technically true, but allow themselves to be interpreted in a way that makes it out to be more than what it was. "When I was with the Task Force and under fire in Afghanistan..." I'm like "LOL, bro we were in the same unit and did the same kind of job. The only time you were "under fire" is when a 107 landed a street away on the FOB when you were walking to Burger King." I wish people could just be proud of what they actually did. It took all of us to... well, I was going to say "win the war" but I guess we didn't do that either. "It took all of us to get through what we did."

I like the retired Marauder06- using joe dirt quotes and all now.

 

[Kraut783]

The closest I ever got to going on a combat op was in an MH-47 in Asadabad. It was dark, of course, and I was sleeping in the back of the MH like a good little 160th intel officer, awaiting transpo back to Bagram after accompanying the strike package to the forward staging area. The blades started spinning and I was like "Oh good, we're going home," but then a whole bunch of angry Rangers ran up the ramp and strapped up. The ramp started closing and a Ranger NCO came around counting troops. In my sleep-muddled state I was like, "OK, I guess now I'm committed, I'll be the best M240B assistant gunner/ammo bearer I can be when we hit the ground." I had been an Infantry officers and served in the Task Force with the Rangers for a long time, so my biggest worry wasn't that I wouldn't know what to do or that I might get shot up. My biggest worry was what I would tell my battalion commander when I got back to base, because he explicitly told me several times that I was **not** to go on the objective (which was fine, because I never had any intention of doing that anyway, on any mission I ever went on).

Fortunately for all involved, the mission got called off almost as soon as it was "on," the blades spun down, the Rangers got off, and I napped back out until it was time to fly home.

My most memorable part of that whole trip was that we did a very rare daylight movement back to Bagram. This was the first time I ever saw that part of Afghanistan in the daylight. I was in the jump seat so I had a great view. It was absolutely beautiful country.

Ah, good old A-bad...freaking loved that place....did it still look like this?

 

[Kraut783]

The Osprey is a cool aircraft…never rode in one, saw one in 2008 (Iraq)… I was always concerned of the lack of defensive fire, limited air to ground suppressive fire. Bigger fan of the 47 and 60…

 

[Gunz]

One of the reasons I'm sensitive about it is that it annoys me greatly when people, especially support types like me, want to go all Joe Dirt and "church it up" with their experiences. I know what I did and I'm proud of it. I think what I did was important but I never felt the need to exaggerate for cool guy points. But I have friends who do.

One in particular, who is not a member here, is fond of telling stories that are technically true, but allow themselves to be interpreted in a way that makes it out to be more than what it was. "When I was with the Task Force and under fire in Afghanistan..." I'm like "LOL, bro we were in the same unit and did the same kind of job. The only time you were "under fire" is when a 107 landed a street away on the FOB when you were walking to Burger King." I wish people could just be proud of what they actually did. It took all of us to... well, I was going to say "win the war" but I guess we didn't do that either. "It took all of us to get through what we did."

I’ve heard so many bullshit stories over the years, brother…and they ramped up when veterans started getting Hero Love. That’s why I’ve been careful over the years to post documents and photos to back up my stories.

Someday I’ll post that picture of me stabbing Ho Chi Minh in the neck with a fondu fork.

 

[Gunz]

The Osprey is a cool aircraft…never rode in one, saw one in 2008 (Iraq)… I was always concerned of the lack of defensive fire, limited air to ground suppressive fire. Bigger fan of the 47 and 60…

They’re very cool, like something out of Halo…but have had a slew of issues since Day One.

 

[Ooh-Rah]

It will be interesting to see what the Navy and Marines do in response

Meanwhile in the Marine Corps…

“Naaah, we got dis…”

Marine Corps Says Its Pilots Can Handle Clutch Issue That Has Grounded Air Force Ospreys

The Marine Corps says it will not be grounding its fleet of MV-22B Osprey aircraft less than a day after the Air Forceannounced an indefinite halt, citing safety issues with the airplane's clutch.

The Corps said that it's known about the problem since 2010 and its pilots can handle it, with one service official calling the issues "common knowledge."

"Hard clutch issue has been known to the Marine Corps since 2010, and as such, we have trained our pilots to react with the appropriate emergency control measures should the issue arise during flight,"

 

[Devildoc]

Meanwhile in the Marine Corps…

“Naaah, we got dis…”

Marine Corps Says Its Pilots Can Handle Clutch Issue That Has Grounded Air Force Ospreys

The Marine Corps says it will not be grounding its fleet of MV-22B Osprey aircraft less than a day after the Air Forceannounced an indefinite halt, citing safety issues with the airplane's clutch.

The Corps said that it's known about the problem since 2010 and its pilots can handle it, with one service official calling the issues "common knowledge."

"Hard clutch issue has been known to the Marine Corps since 2010, and as such, we have trained our pilots to react with the appropriate emergency control measures should the issue arise during flight,"

What's interesting is that all the Osprey pilots go through the same school for the aircraft, which is at New River I believe. So I don't know if they teach that clutch thing to everyone at the school and the Air Force is choosing to be a little extra cautious or if it's follow-on training that Marine aviators get.

 

[Gunz]

Meanwhile in the Marine Corps…

“Naaah, we got dis…”

Marine Corps Says Its Pilots Can Handle Clutch Issue That Has Grounded Air Force Ospreys

The Marine Corps says it will not be grounding its fleet of MV-22B Osprey aircraft less than a day after the Air Forceannounced an indefinite halt, citing safety issues with the airplane's clutch.

The Corps said that it's known about the problem since 2010 and its pilots can handle it, with one service official calling the issues "common knowledge."

"Hard clutch issue has been known to the Marine Corps since 2010, and as such, we have trained our pilots to react with the appropriate emergency control measures should the issue arise during flight,"

Swing with the Wing, Baby

 

[Cartoonjunkies]

Having talked to and worked alongside the guys that turn wrenches on the CVs, I can say for certain that they’re still hell to work on and very maintenance intensive per flight hour, even with the lowered accident rate in the last decade.
The helicopter side of maintenance they’re on is structured a bit different than mine in fixed wing, so I’m used to having more specialist shops to back me up. CV crew chiefs are another breed. Those guys really do have to be hydro, E&E, and crew chief all in one. They don’t get the luxury of all the specialists we do.
If we hear that they’re getting downsized in terms of the operational fleet soon, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit, honestly. Sure, it looks really cool. But ultimately it’s one damned noisy and, frankly, fragile minivan in the sky.