Since the event, the Osprey is stuck on the island as repairs onsite are thought to be impossible.
Norwegian Armed Forces have been investigating several options to salvage the plane from the nature reserve, ‘As of now, the sea route is plan A,’ says chief sergeant Odd Helge Wang to Norway Posts.
The Norwegians environmental officers must ensure that the aircraft is transported out in a way that safeguards nature in the area. A road, a ramp and a jetty must be built in the nature reserve in order to transport the aircraft out.
‘It is quite complicated to carry out technically, and something neither we nor the Americans have done before,’ says Wang. ‘We are probably talking about millions. But it is the Americans who have to foot the bill because it is their machine, and we hope that a decision will be made on their part during this or next week. Once it is taken, it will take about two to three weeks to carry out the operation,’ says Wang.
The Norwegians environmental officers must ensure that the aircraft is transported out in a way that safeguards nature in the area. A road, a ramp and a jetty must be built in the nature reserve in order to transport the aircraft out.
‘It is quite complicated to carry out technically, and something neither we nor the Americans have done before,’ says Wang. ‘We are probably talking about millions. But it is the Americans who have to foot the bill because it is their machine, and we hope that a decision will be made on their part during this or next week. Once it is taken, it will take about two to three weeks to carry out the operation,’ says Wang.
Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Westerman in the 352 Special Operations Wing cannot say concretely when the decision will be made on the American side. ‘That decision is made by someone higher up in the system than me, so I don’t have a good answer for that,’ he said. ‘But we are aware that the Norwegian winter will be able to affect the operation.’
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 grounded its CV-22 Osprey fleet after two incidents of “hard clutch engagement.” which came after two in the previous five years.
A hard clutch engagement involves the clutch connecting the rotor gear box to the engine slipping, then catching hard, causing the aircraft to lurch.
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