JAPAN TO HALT OSPREY FLIGHTS FOLLOWING FATAL US AIR FORCE CRASH

Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after a US Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed into waters off the southern coast during a training mission, reports said Thursday. Kyodo news agency says a senior Defence Ministry official, Taro Yamato, told a parliamentary hearing that Japan plans to suspend flights of Ospreys for the time being. There were no other immediate details.

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A US Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed during a training mission Wednesday off of the country’s southern coast, killing at least one of the eight crew members. The cause of the crash and the status of the seven others on board were not immediately known, Japanese coast guard spokesperson Kazuo Ogawa said. The Coast Guard planned to continue searching through the night.

The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter, but during flight it can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster like an airplane.