Japan resumes V-22 flights after investigation shows pilot error caused accident

TOKYO – Japan’s fleet of military hybrid helicopter aircraft has been cleared to resume operations after being grounded an accident last month.

A V-22 Osprey overturned and hit the ground as it took off during a joint exercise with the US military on October 27. Research has shown that human error was the cause.

The plane was carrying 16 people when it “became unstable” on takeoff from a Japanese military base on Yonaguni, a remote island west of Okinawa. The flight was aborted and no one was injured, Japan’s Ground Self Defense Forces (GSDF) said at the time.

In a statement on Thursday, the GSDF said the pilots failed to turn on a switch designed to temporarily increase engine power during takeoff, causing the plane to descend and yaw uncontrollably.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said an internal investigation found that the accident was caused by human error and not by “physical or external factors.”

He said the fleet of more than a dozen V-22s would resume flying operations from Thursday after a review of safety and training measures.

It was the first major incident involving Japanese V-22s since November 2023 when a US Air Force Special Operations Command Osprey crashed off Japan’s southern coast eight people murdered.

The fleet only resumed flying operations earlier this year, but the use of the V-22 remains controversial, especially in Okinawa, where residents question its safety status. The small southern island is home to half of the approximately 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan.