WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon believes it has identified the mechanical failure that led to a fatal crash of an Osprey aircraft in Japan and the grounding of the fleet for two months, a U.S. defense official told The Associated Press. The Air Force investigation is continuing into the Nov. 29 Air Force special operations command CV-22 crash, which killed eight service members. The crash led to a rare grounding on Dec. 6 of about 400 Osprey aircraft across the three services. Both the Air Force and Marine Corps have been running the Osprey's engines; the Marines have been conducting ground movements to keep the aircraft working. While the current Osprey standdown is one of the largest military aircraft groundings in terms of affecting three services’ flight operations, it’s not the longest.

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Persons: Chris Engdahl, ” Engdahl, Engdahl, Alyssa Myers, it’s Organizations: WASHINGTON, Pentagon, Osprey, Associated Press, Safety Council, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Naval Safety Command, The Air Force, Ospreys, Marines, Safety, Congress Locations: Japan, U.S