Japanese minister tries out Osprey plane at Pentagon

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Japanese minister tries out Osprey plane at Pentagon

By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON | Fri Aug 3, 2012 8:41pm EDT

(Reuters) - Japan's defense minister flew from the Pentagon grounds Friday in a revolutionary hybrid aircraft at the heart of a controversy that threatens to strain strong defense ties between the United States and its Asian ally.

The minister, Satoshi Morimoto, donned a white flight helmet and goggles before taking the jump-seat, between the pilots, on the flat-gray Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey troop transport.

The Pentagon is seeking to deploy the tilt-rotor aircraft - which takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane - as early as next month to the southern Japanese island of Okinawa despite strong public opposition, largely on safety grounds.

An initial shipment of 12 of the aircraft have arrived at Iwakuni Air Station, the only U.S. Marine Corps station in the main Japanese islands.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/04/us-japan-usa-osprey-idUSBRE8721UG20120804

[MADem]

1. I'd be scared shitless if I were that guy!

Not only is the damn aircraft a flying coffin, we don't have a good record when it comes to safe transport of Japanese defense officials.

Just a scant fourteen years ago....

http://articles.cnn.com/1998-09-21/us/9809_21_pentagon.accident_1_defense-minister-accident-kenneth-bacon?_s=PM:US

Japanese defense minister injured in Pentagon accident


September 21, 1998

Five others in the car three Americans and two Japanese were also slightly injured and taken to a nearby hospital after the 1015 a.m. EDT accident. They were all treated and released, officials said.

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen, who had been awaiting Nukagas arrival at the Pentagons river entrance, accompanied the defense minister to the hospital.

An hour after the accident, the black Cadillac stretch limousine still could be seen stuck atop the raised metal barrier, blocking one of several approaches to the river entrance.

John Jester, chief of the Defense Protective Service, said the security barrier unexpectedly popped up after the first few cars in Nukagas motorcade made it through the gate, lifting the front end of Nukagas limousine off the ground and bending the cars frame.

[SDjack]

2. I feel sorry for the Marines that have ride in the Osprey. It is a killer.

The machine should have been condemned to never fly again in the late 1990s. Instead, corporate profit was protected, and the Marines were selected to bear the burden.

[Kaleva]

3. Many of the bugs have been corrected and it's safety record in Afghanistan & Iraq is very good

Far more people have been killed recently in old CH-46 Sea Knight helo crashes which the Osprey is replacing.