Osprey Fleet Grounded After Fatal Crash

Dec. 12 -- Defense Secretary William Cohen will appoint a panel of experts to study the military’s MV-22 Osprey program, a day after the crash of the still-experimental aircraft killed four Marines, the Pentagon said today.

Monday’s crash in North Carolina follows an accident last spring involving an Osprey in Arizona in which 19 Marines died.

The crashes of the tilt-rotor aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like an airplane, prompted the Marine Corps to ground its eight remaining aircraft. The military has also indefinitely postponed next week’s planned decision on full-scale production of the Osprey, which is being produced by Boeing Co. and Bell Helicopter Textron.

Mayday Call

In Monday’s crash, the pilot radioed a mayday to the MarineCorps Air Station at New River around 7:30 p.m., just before the hybrid tilt-rotor plane went down in dense woods in southeastern North Carolina, officials said.

At least one witness saw the crash. “The rotors got real loud, and it disappeared behind a tree,” said Mark Calnan, who lives near the crash site about 10 miles north of Jacksonville. “There was an orange flash, a great big one. Then I heard a pop. It crackled like thunder.”

Rescuers reached the area around 11 p.m., officials said. Marine rescue helicopters from Air Station Cherry Point assisted the military and civilian rescue personnel in the area, said Capt. James Rich.

The Marines were identified as Lt. Col. Keith M. Sweaney, 42, of Richmond, Va.; Maj. Michael Murphy, 38, of Blauvelt, N.Y.; Staff Sgt. Avely W. Runnels, 25, of Morven, Ga., and Sgt. Jason A. Buyck, 24, of Sodus, N.Y.

Full Investigation

Pentagon officials said there would be a full review of the aircraft. Defense Department spokesman Ken Bacon said a small Pentagon panel is expected to be convened within a week.

“The secretary wants to have a bunch of experts look at the whole program,” he said.