Current:Home > StocksCongress sought Osprey crash and safety documents from the Pentagon last year. It’s still waiting -Visionary Growth Labs
Congress sought Osprey crash and safety documents from the Pentagon last year. It’s still waiting
View
Date:2025-04-17 12:30:06
WASHINGTON (AP) — A House Oversight Committee panel that is investigating the safety and oversight of the V-22 Osprey aircraft following a string of fatal crashes has not received critical data or accident reports that its members requested months ago, two committee staffers told The Associated Press.
The aircraft, subject of a hearing Wednesday, has faced safety, maintenance and reliability issues for decades, with 62 service members and civilians killed in 12 Osprey accidents since 1992. The most recent was a crash off the coast of Japan in November that killed eight U.S. service members and led the military to ground the entire fleet. The aircraft, which can fly long distances fast like an airplane but land like a helicopter, began returning to service in March with flight restrictions.
Among the information that the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security, the Border and Foreign Affairs has requested but has yet to receive is the wear and replacement rates on Osprey proprotor gearboxes, a component that was a factor in the 2023 crash off Japan.
Committee members also have asked for internal crash reports that the military conducts with surviving air and ground crews and witnesses. The reports, known as safety investigation board reports, aren’t available to the public and cannot be used to punish a crew — they are in place to identify and quickly share any safety issues among the fleet.
To date, the staffers said they had received about 3,500 pages of documents, but information was redacted, leaving them unable to conduct oversight. The committee staffers spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The staffers said the documents they have reviewed left them concerned about whether Pentagon leadership has maintained a close watch on the Osprey program. Some of the problems with the aircraft date back a decade or more but still haven’t been fixed.
After mechanical and material failures led to an Osprey crash in California in 2022 that killed five Marines, the military said it had instituted changes to prevent the issue from happening again.
“However, the recent fatal crash and ongoing investigations suggest that more transparency and rigorous testing is needed to verify these claims,” U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the committee, said in a statement to the AP ahead of the hearing Wednesday.
Testifying before lawmakers will be Vice Admiral Carl Chebi, head of the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, which is responsible for the Osprey program across the military.
The committee is concerned about how the Pentagon will be able to sustain the Osprey program long term. Parts are wearing out faster than anticipated, but recent operations and maintenance budget requests by the Pentagon for the aircraft have been cut, Grothman said.
The Marine Corps is planning on using the Osprey through 2050, while Air Force Special Operations Command has already begun to talk publicly about finding another type of aircraft to conduct missions.
Osprey producers Bell Flight, the Boeing Co. and Rolls-Royce, which supplies the engines, are facing a new lawsuit from families of the five Marines killed in the 2022 California crash. The lawsuit alleges that the companies did not address known parts failures or safety issues that were a factor in the crash.
Boeing and Bell have declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.
The most recent crash last year in Japan was the fourth in two years which killed a total of 20 service members. The Air Force quickly identified that a material problem with the aircraft was to blame for last year’s crash, and within a week, the entire Osprey fleet — hundreds of aircraft across the Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force — were grounded.
The staffers said the Pentagon has not provided details on what the restrictions are as the aircraft returns to operations.
The V-22 Osprey is loved by pilots because of its speed and ability to land on target like a helicopter. Besides the deadly crashes, there have been additional accidents in which the aircraft were destroyed and service members were injured, but all survived.
veryGood! (1797)
Related
- The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
- Chipotle and Sweetgreen's short-lived beef over a chicken burrito bowl gets resolved
- Glee’s Kevin McHale Recalls Jenna Ushkowitz and Naya Rivera Confronting Him Over Steroid Use
- Inside Clean Energy: In Illinois, an Energy Bill Passes That Illustrates the Battle Lines of the Broader Energy Debate
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- Apple Flash Deal: Save $375 on a MacBook Pro Laptop Bundle
- Laid off on leave: Yes, it's legal and it's hitting some workers hard
- Elon Musk says NPR's 'state-affiliated media' label might not have been accurate
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- Inside Clean Energy: Drought is Causing U.S. Hydropower to Have a Rough Year. Is This a Sign of a Long-Term Shift?
Ranking
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- Polaris Guitarist Ryan Siew Dead at 26
- Possible Vanderpump Rules Spin-Off Show Is Coming
- In the Latest Rights of Nature Case, a Tribe Is Suing Seattle on Behalf of Salmon in the Skagit River
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Chrissy Teigen Gushes Over Baby Boy Wren's Rockstar Hair
- Rural Pennsylvanians Set to Vote for GOP Candidates Who Support the Natural Gas Industry
- Two mysterious bond market indicators
Recommendation
Small twin
UN Report Says Humanity Has Altered 70 Percent of the Earth’s Land, Putting the Planet on a ‘Crisis Footing’
Why Tia Mowry Says Her 2 Kids Were Part of Her Decision to Divorce Cory Hardrict
Warming Trends: British Morning Show Copies Fictional ‘Don’t Look Up’ Newscast, Pinterest Drops Climate Misinformation and Greta’s Latest Book Project
A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
The $1.6 billion Dominion v. Fox News trial starts Tuesday. Catch up here
Inside Clean Energy: Here’s Why Some Utilities Support, and Others Are Wary of, the Federal Clean Energy Proposal
Biden Tightens Auto Emissions Standards, Reversing Trump, and Aims for a Quantum Leap on Electric Vehicles by 2030