Hydraulic Failure Caused Osprey Fire

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Hydraulic Failure Caused Osprey Fire
October 02, 2008
Military.com|by Christian Lowe

A catastrophic fire that nearly engulfed a Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey late last year was sparked by a leaking hydraulic line in the left-side engine nacelle, investigators found.

The fire broke out about half way through a nearly five-hour training mission, when fluid from a key hydraulic system that powers landing gear, opens the rear door and helps filter the air inlets to the Osprey's engines poured out of the lines after spikes in pressure fractured the thin-walled tubes.

The fluid drained onto the infrared suppressor section of the nacelle -- where hot exhaust from the engine is cooled to cut down on the plane's heat signature -- sparking the mid-air fire which caused more than $16 million in damage to the aircraft, according to the Judge Advocate General Manual Investigation report obtained by Military.com.

Both pilots and three crew members who were aboard the MV-22 for the Nov. 6 night vision goggle training flight survived the incident after landing the aircraft in Landing Zone Phoenix at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The aircraft has not been repaired and returned to flight status, the Corps said.

The fire occurred about seven months after the service admitted another blaze in the same part of the aircraft had ignited just before takeoff. The Corps called the earlier incident a "minor nacelle fire" in a news release at the time, and told Military.com in an email response to questions regarding the November fire that the service "was in the process of implementing appropriate aircraft modifications when this incident occurred."


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/hydraulic-failure-caused-osprey-fire.html