From: "Chestys updates and news" <chesty84@usmc.net>
To: List Member <GunnyG@HotMail.Com>
Subject: 19 killed in Marine crash.
Date: 9 Apr 2000 18:59:56 -0000
Chestys updates and news -
http://www.geocities.com/chesty84
MARANA, Ariz. (AP) - A Marine Corps aircraft crashed during a
training
exercise at an airport west of Tucson, killing all 19 Marines
aboard,
authorities said.
The MV-22 tiltrotor Osprey went down Saturday night with four
crew members
and 15 passengers aboard, said Gunnery Sgt. Nathan Portman of
the Marine
Corps Air Station at Yuma, where the flight originated, about
240 miles
away.
Officials said they did not know where the victims had been
based. The
aircraft was not based at the Yuma air station.
Another Marine spokesman, Corp. Jason Schaap, said the plane and
a second
one were simulating the evacuation of civilians.
The aircraft, which looks like a large turboprop plane but can
take off
like a helicopter, was landing at the Marana Northwest Regional
Airport as
part of the exercise when it crashed about 8 p.m. PDT, said
Marine Col.
William D. Catto. He said there were no weapons on board.
Firefighters said witnesses reported seeing the plane head
"straight
downward," said Katy Heiden, spokeswoman for the Northwest Fire
District.
The vertical-lift aircraft, also known as a convertiplane, was
introduced
last September. Its two propjet turbines power two oversize
propellers.
The Osprey flies at twice the speed, has twice the range and
carries twice
the payload of the Vietnam-era CH-46 helicopters. The new
aircraft is
scheduled to replace all of the Marines' primary troop-transport
helicopters, including the CH-46 and CH-53D, said Maj. Dave
Lapan, a
Pentagon spokesman.
The Osprey that crashed was one of four being used in Arizona to
test how
the aircraft performs during different types of flight missions,
military
officials said Sunday. Lapan said the testing began in October
and is due
to conclude in late May or early June.
Jointly produced by Bell Helicopter Textron of Fort Worth,
Texas, and
Boeing Co., in Ridley Park, Pa., the aircraft can achieve speeds
over 400
mph and an altitude of 25,000 feet. It is designed to carry up
to 24
troops or external loads of 15,000 pounds.
The Marines have ordered 360 Ospreys to be delivered by 2014,
said Capt.
Rob Winchester, another Pentagon spokesman. Each is valued at
$44 million.
He said he didn't know whether the crash would affect the order.
Boeing spokeswoman Susan Bradley said late Saturday night that
it was not
yet clear whether the company would join the investigation.
Military planners see the aircraft as a means of getting more
U.S. troops
and pilots safely out of danger zones and enhancing drug
interdiction,
humanitarian and civilian rescue capabilities.
Critics have assailed the aircraft's high cost and safety. Early
safety
concerns plagued the innovative aircraft and former President
George
Bush's administration tried to scuttle the project, but builders
say
modifications from the original design have made today's Ospreys
lighter
and safer.
The Marine Corps lists two other crashes during the Osprey's
development:
One crash, in 1991 in Delaware, was blamed on gyro wiring
problems; and
the other, in 1992 in Virginia, killed all seven people on board
after an
engine caught fire.
In a statement issued early Sunday by the White House, President
Clinton
said: "This terrible loss of life is a reminder of how many men
and women
in the nation's military put their lives at risk, each and every
day, so
that we might be a free people, and the cause of peace can be
advanced
throughout the world."
