All Marine Corps aviation units will at some point during the next two weeks suspend flight operations for 24 hours as a result of the Aug. 5 crash of an MV-22 Osprey that killed three Marines.
Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller made the announcement Friday that commanders could decide when to ground their aircraft for a full day without affecting ongoing operations.
“The intent is for flying squadrons to review selected incidents which occurred enterprise-wide and study historical examples of completed investigations in order to bring awareness and best practices to the fleet,” the statement said.
On Aug. 5, an Osprey clipped the edge of the USS Green Bay while trying to land on the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. The aircraft – which can takeoff, land and hover like a helicopter and fly at speeds and altitude of a fixed-wing airplane – plunged into the Pacific Ocean with 26 U.S. military personnel on board. All but three of the Osprey’s occupants were recovered safely from the water.
Just over a year ago the Marine Corps halted all flight operations when three F/A-18 Hornets crashed in the span of three months. In August 2016, an F/A-18C Hornet crashed during a checkout flight from of Naval Air Station Fallon, near Carson City, Nev. The pilot was able to eject safely and was taken to a local hospital. The pilot of another F/A-18C later the same week crashed near Marine Air Ground Combat Canter Twentynine Palms in California was not so lucky. Maj. Richard Norton, with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 232 based at Miramar, was killed when his Hornet crashed during a training mission.
In June 2016, Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss, a pilot with the Blue Angels demonstration team, was killed when his Hornet crashed shortly after takeoff in Smyrna, Tenn. A month prior, two F/A-18F – a slightly newer variant of the Boeing [BA] aircraft – went down after a mid-air collision. The pilots and flight officers from that crash were able to eject and were recovered.
All Ospreys based in Japan were grounded for a week in December after an MV-22 crash-landed in shallow water off the coast of Okinawa when its rotor blades were damaged during a refueling operation.
Marine Corps officials, defense analysts and lawmakers have suggested the uptick in aviation mishaps is a symptom of the fleet’s age. The Marine Corps still flies the legacy E/A-6B Prowler, the AV-8B Harrier jump jet and the F-18 Hornet and did not upgrade to the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The MV-22 Osprey is one of the newest aircraft in the Marine Corps fleet, but has been operating heavily in several combat and non-combat roles for decades.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), expressing concern about the Marine Corps’ aviation readiness, pointing out the service has suffered 18 Class-A mishaps since spring 2016 at the loss of aircraft and 22 Marines.
“The Marine Corps decision to temporarily ground all aircraft is further, indisputable evidence that America’s military is in a readiness crisis, and that the crisis is costing lives,” Thornberry said. “Washington has asked our military to do too much with too little for too long. As threats continue to grow, Congress must act as soon as possible to provide our military with all of the resources they need to repair what can be fixed and replace what cannot be repaired. It would be immoral to continue to use military funding as political leverage in the face of such striking evidence that our military is in a crisis that is partly of our own making.”