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Half of Osprey fleet requires engine fixes

More than half of the Air Force’s small fleet of CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft are seeing only limited flight time while they await modifications to a faulty engine component that caused a fire in a Marine Corps version of the aircraft.

Four of the service’s seven Ospreys are being flown only “on an as-required basis,” while three have already been modified and are fully operational, said 1st Lt. Amy Cooper, a spokeswoman for Air Force Special Operations Command, which owns the aircraft.

Work on the remaining four aircraft should be complete “shortly after the new year,” Cooper said, allowing them to return to full service.

The Air Force has four operational Ospreys at Hurlburt Field, Fla., and three training aircraft at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

The modifications were ordered after a Marine Corps Osprey from Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., had to make an emergency landing due to an engine fire Nov. 6.

The faulty component, called the engine air particle separator, collects dust, dirt and debris that might find its way into the engine.

The Osprey has had a checkered past, and 26 Marines and four civilians died during flight testing before the aircraft ever flew an operational mission.

The first squadron of 10 Marine Corps Ospreys deployed to Iraq in September.

Staff writer Michael Hoffman contributed to this report.