Tornado Crash: Hopes Fade For RAF Crew

A search for two RAF airmen who went missing after a pair of Tornado jets crashed off the coast of Scotland has become a recovery operation.

Four personnel from RAF Lossiemouth were involved in the incident, in which the Tornado GR4s came down in the Moray Firth on Tuesday afternoon.

A rescue helicopter later picked up two people who were taken to hospital in Inverness, but the search for the remaining airmen was later suspended due to bad weather.

Fred Caygill, a maritime and coastguard agency spokesman, said this morning: "We are now in a recovery phase. We stand by to assist the Ministry of Defence in any way that we can if required."

On Tuesday, the Aberdeen coastguard contacted the RNLI for assistance at about 1.50pm after reports that the jets came down about 25 miles south of Wick.

About 15 lifeboat volunteers joined the rescue operation in boats from Wick, Invergordon and Buckie, the RNLI said.

The boats headed for the Beatrice oil field area, supported by a helicopter from Stornoway in the Western Isles.

Crew from the Buckie boat reported that two people were taken from the sea by helicopter and flown to Raigmore Hospital, although their condition is not known

Group Captain Ian Gale, the station commander, said his thoughts were with the families and friends of those involved.

"It is with great regret that I must confirm the loss of two Tornado GR4 aircraft, from this station, in an incident in the Moray Firth today," he said in a statement released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

"The circumstances remain uncertain but clearly this is a very serious incident.

"This incident involved four aircrew, all personnel from this station, and the thoughts of everyone here are with the families and friend of those involved."

He would not comment on the aircrew's condition or the circumstances of the incident.

He added: "I am confident that the Tornado aircraft on this station are operated as safely as they possibly can be - however, today's incident is a stark reminder that the military operations and training we conduct are not without risk.

"What happened today is under investigation and more details will be released by the Royal Air Force in due course.

First Minister Alex Salmond said: "This is clearly a very serious incident and my thoughts are with the loved ones of those affected."

Tornado aircraft have been involved in crashes in Scotland in recent years.

In January last year two RAF crew were rescued after their Tornado GR4 jet came down in the sea off the west coast of Scotland.

The crew, from RAF Lossiemouth, ejected from the plane before it landed in the waters at Loch Ewe, near Gairloch, Wester Ross.

RAF Lossiemouth, on the Moray Firth coast, is home to three squadrons of Tornado GR4s.

The Tornado GR4 is a two-seat attack aircraft, capable of delivering a variety of weapons and reaching a maximum altitude of 50,000ft (15,240m).

In July 2009 an RAF pilot and navigator were killed when their Tornado jet crashed into a hillside in Argyll.

Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Thompson, 27, and Flight Lieutenant Nigel Morton, 43, died in the crash near the village of Arrochar.

The aircraft was a RAF Leuchars-based Tornado F3 on a routine flight.

French Navy Rafale Pilot Ejects At Sea during joint training with US Navy

On July 2nd 2012 off the Spanish coast in the Mediterranean, during air combat training with an F18 fighter from aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower, the pilot of a Rafale fighter belonging to "Flotille 12F" operating from French nuclear powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle had to eject.

He was recovered by a U.S. Navy helicopter and was transferred aboard the French aircraft carrier where he received first care by the medical team.

An investigation was opened to determine the circumstances and causes of this accident.

Aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and her escort left Toulon on May 30, for a training deployment in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, which ends July 5, 2012.

                         

On July 2nd 2012 off the Spanish coast in the Mediterranean,during air combat training with an F18 fighter from aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower, the pilot of a Rafale pilot belonging to "Flotille 12F" operating from French nuclear powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle had to ejected.

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USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, At Sea (NNS) -- While conducting coalition training in the Mediterranean Sea July 2, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) received a call of a downed French aircraft operating from the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R 91).

Upon notification, a Carrier Airwing 7 airborne helicopter from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 5, embarked on USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, was dispatched to provide rescue and assistance.

Once HS-5 arrived at the scene, they retrieved and transported the pilot to the Charles de Gaulle for medical treatment.

Osprey crashes could delay deployment to Japan

Recent crashes involving the U.S. military’s latest transport aircraft are fueling an uproar in Japan that could threaten plans to deploy them to the southern island of Okinawa by the end of the year.

Following an uproar on Okinawa and in another city likely to host the Osprey aircraft, U.S. officials were to brief Japanese government representatives in Washington on Friday.

The Osprey can fly like a helicopter or an airplane and has been used in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. But a crash in April killed two Marines and another last week injured five airmen.

Japan’s top government spokesman said last week the plan to deploy the aircraft to Japan this year couldn’t move forward until Tokyo received assurances of its safety.

While saying the U.S. takes Japan’s concerns seriously, a Pentagon spokesman on Thursday said the U.S. stands by the aircraft.

“The Osprey is a highly capable aircraft with an excellent operational safety record,” Pentagon press secretary George Little said.

But coming just as Washington and Tokyo were finalizing plans to send the first Ospreys to Okinawa — where the U.S. military footprint is always a sensitive political issue — the accidents could not have happened at a worse time.

In hopes of easing longstanding complaints that Okinawa bears too much of the burden of hosting the U.S. troops in Japan, the two governments in April announced that about 9,000 of the nearly 20,000 Marines there will be moved elsewhere.

Crowding around U.S. bases on Okinawa is particularly intense, and opponents of the bases often complain of the danger of accidents involving local residents, noise from training and base-related crime.

The dispute over the Ospreys has renewed those complaints.

“If the two governments force the deployment of these aircraft on Okinawa as scheduled, there will be an explosion of anger,” Kantoku Teraya, a national lawmaker from Okinawa, told reporters Wednesday after submitting a petition to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda calling for the deployment to be scrapped.

Okinawa’s governor has also said he opposes the deployment, and Iwakuni’s city assembly on Friday was expected to pass a nonbinding motion saying the accidents have caused “great worry to citizens and great confusion in the city.”

Local approval is not essential for the project to go ahead. But the fracas is an embarrassment for Japan’s central government, which after Friday’s talks in Washington will have to try to sell the plan anew to the host cities. Noda is scheduled to visit Okinawa on Saturday for a World War II memorial.

The $70 million Osprey is the U.S. military’s latest-generation transport aircraft.

It combines airplane-like wings with rotors that allow it to take off and land like a helicopter. Its engines roll forward in flight, allowing it to fly twice as fast as a standard helicopter. It has proven itself to be effective in combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

But it got off to a bumpy start.

An early version of the Osprey crashed in 1991 and another crash killed seven the following year. In 2000, 19 Marines were killed when an Osprey crashed during a training exercise in Arizona, and a crash in North Carolina killed four Marines in December of that year.

In 2010, three service members and a civilian contractor were killed in the crash of an Air Force version of the aircraft in Afghanistan.

Last week, all five airmen aboard an Air Force CV-22 Osprey were hospitalized after their aircraft crashed in Florida on a training mission at Eglin Air Force Base. The cause in under investigation.

The crash at Eglin occurred just two months after a Marine Corps version of the aircraft, the MV-22 Osprey, went down during a training exercise in Morocco. Two Marines were killed and two others severely injured.

The Pentagon says it does not believe the cause of the crash was mechanical, and it has not grounded its Osprey fleet.

Japan - Govt suspends Osprey aircraft deployment

The government has decided to suspend procedures to deploy the U.S. MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft in the country until the cause and other details of a recent crash of a CV-22 Osprey aircraft, a remodeled version of the MV-22, are available.

Also behind the decision is increasing opposition to the Osprey deployment among people in Okinawa Prefecture following the latest crash of the CV-22 plane. The accident occurred in Florida during a routine drill on Wednesday night, injuring five crew members on board.

It now looks certain the CV-22 crash will cause a delay in the Japan-U.S. plan to deploy the MV-22 aircraft to the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, after a temporary deployment to the marine base in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in July.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said at a press conference Thursday that Tokyo has asked the United States to investigate the details of the crash as quickly as possible.

"The Japanese government will take no further action [on the Osprey deployment] unless details [of the crash] are shared," he added.

In talks with U.S. Ambassador John Roos, Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto said, "The accident is very regrettable, and I hope the United States will provide as much information as possible about the incident."

The crash in Florida came on the heels of a series of accidents involving the Osprey aircraft, including a fatal crash in Morocco in April.

Noting the accident rate is very high for the Osprey, Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima told reporters, "The aircraft cannot be deployed in Okinawa."

Ginowan Mayor Atsushi Sakima also reiterated his stance against the deployment, saying the latest accident fueled his opposition. On Sunday, Ginowan is slated to hold a rally against the deployment.

Yamaguchi Gov. Sekinari Nii told Morimoto at their meeting in Tokyo that he wants the planned temporary MV-22 Osprey deployment at the Iwakuni base to be "shelved until the cause of the accident is fully investigated." The city of Iwakuni is also withholding its response to the central government's request for cooperation in the temporary deployment plan.

Given the growing anxieties over the MV-22 Osprey deployment among the local communities concerned, Fujimura said, "The government is well aware of local concerns about the safety of the aircraft and will try to sincerely explain the situation, including details of the latest accident."