On Sep. 27, 2022 the USAF Special Operations CV-22 Osprey from 7th Special Operations Squadron ‘Aircommandos,’ at RAF Mildenhall, UK, was lifted out of the nature reserve Stongodden on the south end of Senja in Northern Norway.
On Tuesday Sep. 27, 2022 the USAF Special Operations CV-22 Osprey from 7th Special Operations Squadron ‘Aircommandos,’ at RAF Mildenhall, UK, was lifted out of the nature reserve Stongodden on the south end of Senja in Northern Norway. The tiltrotor aircraft performed a controlled emergency landing in the nature reserve on Aug. 12, 2022 [CLICK HERE to read the story].
According to a Forsvaret news release, the demanding work to retrieve the Osprey has been carried out by the Norwegian Armed Forces in collaboration with US Armed Forces, and several civilian actors.
The Osprey is now safely on the crane boat and is being transported to the closest NATO port. ‘It has been both exciting and challenging,’ says Senior Master Sergeant, Odd Helge Wang from the Maritime Helicopter Wing in Bardufoss. He has led the work on site.
‘The plane was too far from the water’s edge to be lifted directly out with the crane boat. Together with soldiers from the Engineer Battalion, we have built a ramp out of wood materials, and then towed the plane down to the sea. High seas have postponed the lift a couple of times, but today the conditions were perfect,’ says Wang.
The Osprey was to be lifted onto the crane boat on Sep. 25 but due to waves of approximately 2 meters, the operation had to be delayed.
The Norwegian Armed Forces Salvage Battalion has previously moved the Osprey around 17 metres up onto the makeshift path made by the Norwegian Army’s Engineer Battalion.
Since Aug. 12, the Osprey was stuck on the island as repairs onsite were impossible. However, Norwegian Authorities have been investigating several options to salvage the plane from the nature reserve, in constant contact with the US Authorities.
This emergency landing is one of the events that recently led to the grounding of all CV-22s. As already reported in fact, as part of a safety stand down, on Aug. 16, 2022 the US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) grounded its CV-22 Osprey fleet. The US Air Force decided to resume flights of its Ospreys on Sep. 2.
AFSOC spokesperson Lt. Col. Rebecca Heyse explained in an emailed statement to Air Force Magazine in August that the stand down, ordered by AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife, came after two incidents of “hard clutch engagement.”
A hard clutch engagement involves the clutch connecting the rotor gear box to the engine slipping, then catching hard, causing the aircraft to lurch.
AFSOC has more than 50 Ospreys in its fleet, based out of Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., Hurlburt Field, Fla., Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., RAF Mildenhall, U.K., and Yokota Air Base, Japan.
Photo credit: Forsvaret, Trygve Hongset and Tiril Haslestad/ Norwegian Armed Forces
