Marine Times, 05-01-00
Osprey's Future / Officials Rule Out Major Engine Failure In Fatal Crash
By C. Mark Brinkley
Investigators believe the MV-22 Osprey that crashed in the Arizona desert April 8 did not fall from the sky, but instead flew into the ground.
Lt. Gen. Fred McCorkle, head of aviation at Marine Corps Headquarters, announced April 20 that the engines were running, rotors were turning and drive shaft was working when the Osprey crashed nose-first, killing all 19 Marines on board.
The revelations -- relayed from analysts conducting the legal investigation into the crash -- point away from the major failure of a primary operating system, McCorkle said.
Officially, the Corps has ruled nothing out, including the possibilities of pilot error or maintenance problems.
Marine officials, however, are expecting to find a glitch with computer software or some other secondary aircraft system, such as steering mechanisms or actuators, as opposed to pilot error or problems with night-vision equipment.
"It relies more on software than the conventional helicopter," McCorkle said. "I don't think that it relies as much on software as an F-22 or as an F-18E/F."
He knew of only one software-related glitch in the V-22's past, discovered when a pilot landed on a ship with one wing over the side, made a movement, and got the impression that the Osprey dipped too much.
"And we went in, did tests in the simulator and adjusted that software," McCorkle said. "Actually, the way that they fixed it was where you couldn't slam the airplane over in one direction or another."
McCorkle and other Corps leaders pledge to do whatever it takes to find the cause of the crash. That may include, McCorkle said, taking information from the Osprey's "black box," loading it into a computer at NASA and re-creating the last minutes of the fatal flight in a simulator.
"We remain confident -- very, very confident -- in the Osprey and its abilities and its ability to fly and function," McCorkle said. "We feel like, when we get back in the air, that we'll have all the confidence in the world in the airplane."
Marine officials said inspections of the four remaining production aircraft have found no flaws or maintenance problems.
McCorkle's words echoed the sentiments expressed earlier in the week by Marine Commandant Gen. James L. Jones, who spoke at an April 17 memorial service at Camp Pendleton.
Jones, joined by assistant commandant Gen. Terrence Dake, Marine Forces Pacific commander Lt. Gen. Frank Libutti and I Marine Expeditionary Force commander Lt. Gen. Bruce Knutson, outlined the Corps' plan to return the Ospreys to flight status once the investigation is complete.
The first phase involves getting the remaining Engineering and Manufacturing Development model Ospreys back into the air with test pilots. Then, air crews only will take out the Corps' four remaining production-model aircraft.
"We will fly without troops for a reasonable amount of time," Jones said. First is a "lap check to make sure everything is okay."
Finally, the Corps again will put troops on board evaluation flights. He said the Corps would "not rush to prove anything here." He vowed to be on board the first V-22 carrying troops when the Osprey resumes flying.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee's military procurement subcommittee, joined Jones at Pendleton's service and shared the general's confidence in the V-22.
Hunter said Congress expects "to continue funding the Osprey," which he said provides much greater capability and safety than the older helicopters it's designed to replace.
McCorkle dismissed any suggestion that the Corps would cover up the real cause of the crash to protect the Osprey program, which has come under fire for being too costly.
"No matter how much money you have, I don't think that you could ever cover up," McCorkle said. "You have at least 100 subject matter experts involved in this, and I think every one of them is going to know what's going on, you know, from start to finish, all the way from human factors to mechanical to the maintenance records and everything else. I think this is probably going to be the most open process that you could see anywhere in the U.S."
Staff writer Gidget Fuentes contributed to this report.
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