Osprey Fleet Grounded After Fatal Crash

Dec. 13, 2000 -- Despite troubles the military has been having with the MV-22 Osprey program, the The Marine Corps’ chief of aviation says thecrash of the still-experimental MV-22 Osprey in North Carolina should not be a “showstopper” for the troubled $40 billion program.

It appears increasingly likely, however, that it will be up to the nextadministration to decide whether to build a full fleet. So far, the Marine Corps already has spent $10 billion on the program.

The Marines plan to buy 360 over the next 14 years toreplace aging helicopters. Three of the first 15 delivered -including prototypes and experimental models—have been involvedin fatal crashes, including two this year that reduced the fleet ofoperational models from 10 to eight.

Lt. Gen. Fred McCorkle, head of Marine aviation, said he remains confident in the safety of the Osprey, noting that the Arizona crash had been caused by human error, not mechanical failure. He declined to speculate on the cause of Monday’s accident.

“This program is very, very important to the Marine Corps, tome and I think to the nation, and we’re going to work very hard tofind out what happened,” he said at a news conference.

“I don’t think this will be a show-stopper,” he said,when asked if the program could be canceled.

McCorkle said he remained confident in the Osprey, despite thesecond fatal crash this year.

Mayday Call

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

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.

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

The Pentagon grounded the aircraft, and Defense SecretaryWilliam Cohen planned to appoint a panel of outside experts toreview Osprey performance, cost and safety issues. The panel would likely include retired military experts and others to study “performance, combat capability, safety, maintainability and cost” of the V-22.

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.

A Political Football?

If George W. Bush is the next president, he will bring toWashington the man who tried unsuccessfully to cancel the Ospreyprogram billions of dollars ago—Dick Cheney, who scratched theOsprey from the Pentagon budget shortly after he became secretaryof defense in 1989. Congress put it back.

The Navy Department, which has responsibility for naval as wellas Marine Corps programs, had been expected to make a finaldecision this month whether to approve moving the Osprey intofull-rate production. On Tuesday, the day after the Osprey crash,the Marines asked that a decision be put off indefinitely.

The Marines had hoped to get the go-ahead for full-rateproduction this year and to field the first operational squadronnext year.

Defense Secretary William Cohen, a supporter of the Osprey, isgoing to appoint a panel of technical experts to review the entireOsprey program, spokesman Kenneth Bacon said Tuesday. The reviewwill focus on safety, performance and cost issues in light ofMonday’s crash and other issues.

ABCNEWS’ David Ruppe and Barbara Starr, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.