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Osprey Mishap Raises Questions
I don't know if I'd wanna be jumping on one of these things...A Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey at the air base in New River, NC, suffered major damage to its wing and right engine in a mishap March 27, according to a statement issued by the service after the incident. The aircraft damage resulted from an inadvertent takeoff followed by a hard landing on the base's flight line during a post-maintenance functional check flight, according to the statement. No one was hurt, the service said. It is not yet clear what caused the mishap. The Marine Corps is investigating the incident. There will be two investigations -- one led by a mishap board and another by the judge advocate general. The base at New River is overseen by the 2nd Marine Air Wing at Cherry Point, NC. Maj. Shawn Haney, a spokeswoman at Cherry Point, said the incident has been labeled a class A mishap, which is the most serious and expensive kind. By definition, any mishap costing more than $1 million is in this category. The Osprey damaged in the incident belongs to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Training Squadron 204. At press time, Haney did not have the identifying numbers for that particular aircraft. Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing make the Osprey mainly for the Marine Corps, but also for the Air Force component of U.S. Special Operations Command. Bell spokesman Bob Leder had no comment on the mishap and referred questions to the Marine Corps. Posted by: tu3031 2006-04-06 |
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