The U.S. Air Force on Friday decided to resume flights of its Ospreys after grounding them due to safety concerns in August, a move that could affect the tilt-rotor aircraft stationed in Japan.
The U.S. Air Force indicated that the decision came without getting to the bottom of the safety issue for its CV-22s, which concerns a malfunctioning clutch inside a gearbox connecting the engine to the propeller rotor.
"Until a root cause is identified, and solution implemented, the focus is on mitigating operations" in flights when the issue is more prevalent and on training aircrews to handle the problem should it occur, Air Force Special Operations Command spokeswoman Rebecca Heyse said in a statement.