Pilots in fatal Osprey crash may lose status

nhboy

Ubi bene ibi patria
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"JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — The pilot and copilot of an MV-22 Osprey crash in Morocco that killed two New River Marines earlier this year could be facing loss of flight status or conditional changes to flight status, Marine Corps officials said Friday.

The II Marine Expeditionary Force investigation into the plane crash that killed New River Cpls. Robby Reyes and Derek Kerns, both MV-22 crew chiefs, revealed that the aircraft did not suffer from mechanical or material failures nor any problems with the safety features of the plane, leaving operator error as the only other explanation, according to Marine Corps officials."

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"In an address clearly dedicated to the media present from Japan, which has recently been scrutinizing the Osprey’s abilities since the plane is currently being deployed to that country, Schmittel stressed that mechanical failure was not to blame.

“It’s now flown over 130,000 hours and it’s on its 13th combat deployment,” he said. “We believe it is a solid and safe airplane. I am committed to doing all that I can to keep this kind of mishap from occurring again.”

Schmittel said the Marine Corps has begun taking action already by briefing all MV-22 pilots on the incident, and they plan to take more action in the future by revising the pilot manual to specifically include the Morocco incident along with instructions on how the pilots should handle a similar situation.

The fate of the pilots and their flight status will not be determined until a field flight performance board convenes when the pilots have fully recovered from the injuries. When the pilots are well enough to sit on the board, a thorough investigation into the pilot’s actions on the day of the crash will begin, Schmittel said.
 
Gonna take that with a grain of salt. If the vehicle was found to be at fault, the US would have been prohibited from flying out of Japan. The phrase, "leaving operator error as the only other explanation" means they couldn't clearly say the pilot was at error and it's a pretty lose finding.
 
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