Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey crashes off the coast of Japan: What We Know

A Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft with 8 people on board crashed near the coast of Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The Japan Coast Guard reported the incident on November 29, 2023, and confirmed that an emergency call was received around 2.45 PM local time, according to Regional Headquarters 10 of the security agency.

A patrol boat and an aircraft were sent for the search and rescue operation. Although wreckage has been found, the status of the crew members remains unknown, reported the Japan Times.

It is believed that the Osprey crashed about four kilometers from Yakushima Airport, according to the airport office in Kagoshima Prefecture.

Osprey Incident History

This crash is the latest in a series of incidents involving the V-22 Osprey, both in the U.S. and internationally. The model has suffered 16 total hull loss accidents resulting in 55 fatalities.

Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey

These incidents range from a misconnected flight control system in June 1991 causing minor injuries, to more severe cases like a crash in July 1992 where the failure of the right engine led to the loss of the seven people on board. In April 2000, an uncontrolled descent resulted in a crash in Arizona, killing the 19 Marines on board.

A crash in December 2000 near Jacksonville, North Carolina, killed four USMC members due to a flight control error. Other incidents include an uncommanded engine acceleration in March 2006, a crash in Afghanistan in April 2010 resulting in the death of three U.S. service members and one civilian, and a crash in Morocco during a training exercise in April 2012, killing two Marines.

A training accident in Florida in June 2012 injured the five on board. In May 2015, a training exercise in Hawaii led to the death of two Marines. A crash in 2016 in Okinawa resulted in two injuries but no fatalities. A crash in August 2017 off the coast of Australia killed three marines.

In September 2017, a V-22 was severely damaged in Syria. A crash in March 2022 in Norway killed the four Marines on board, and a crash in June 2022 in California resulted in the death of five Marines. An accident in August 2023 in Australia killed three USMC members.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stated that the U.S. will be asked to confirm the details of the incident. The governor of Okinawa, Denny Tamaki, has expressed his intention to request the U.S. military to suspend all Osprey flights in Japan until the cause of the accident is determined.