By Laura Strickler and Courtney Kube —
NBC News
When Evan Strickland was 13, he stood in line with his father for 30 minutes under the New Mexico summer sun for the chance to sit in the cockpit of an Osprey V-22, a rare twin-rotor aircraft used by the U.S. Army.
Seeing the photo, Evan's father, Wayland Strickland, becomes emotional.
“You think about it a little more in retrospect.”
In 2022, Evan was 19 years old and a Marine Corps First Corporal in California.
He loved playing the saxophone, dancing to make his classmates laugh, and had planned to marry his girlfriend.
On June 8 he embarked on his first flight as an Osprey crew chief.
His mother, Michelle Strickland, received a message on Facebook that day from a friend asking: “Do you know anything about Evan?”
“I told him no,” Michelle recalled.
“She suggested, 'Call him.'”
Evan didn't answer the phone.
Wayland Strickland stated that he had told his wife not to worry or worry.
However, when he went to bed he heard a “bloodcurdling scream.”
Michelle opened the door and saw two marines.
Photo taken Dec. 27, 2023, from a Kyodo News helicopter showing what is believed to be part of the U.S. CV-22 Osprey military aircraft. Kyodo via AP file
“From that moment on, my heart was forever broken
,” Wayland said.
Between March 2022 and November 2023, 20 military personnel died in four fatal accidents aboard Osprey aircraft.
The U.S. Army grounded its entire fleet of about 400 V-22 Ospreys used by the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force after the November crash of an Air Force Special Operations Command Osprey off the coast of Japan, in which eight airmen died.
The Army stated that it has identified and believes it has resolved a recurring problem with the Osprey's rotor gearbox clutch that contributed to at least one accident, but has not yet determined the root causes of the Osprey's problems, and He is considering using it again in different operations.
[The five Marines who died in a helicopter that crashed in San Diego are identified]
After her son's fatal accident, Michelle Strickland felt comforted by Evan's Marine friends.
One of them, Corporal Spencer Collart, carried Evan's coffin.
Just over a year after the funeral, he received a message that another Osprey had gone missing in Australia.
He immediately thought, “Oh, no… My heart sinks.
I remember shuddering and showing the phone to Wayland: 'No, it can't be.'”
Collart was one of three servicemen who died in the Australian crash in August 2023.
Osprey crew members and their families, mechanics, veterans and others form a small but global community, exchanging stories and information and sharing their concerns.
A former Osprey mechanic with years of experience who did not want to speak publicly told NBC News: “It's hard to find anyone in this community who doesn't know someone who has died.”
He added that he promised his son that
he would never get into an Osprey again
after losing a friend in an accident.
The Osprey V-22 can take off vertically like a helicopter thanks to its twin-rotor engines.
Once in the air, the rotors can be repositioned so that it flies like a propeller plane.
It is designed to transport rapid insertion combat troops.
The US Army has been flying the Osprey since 1989. However, it was always controversial because it was prone to crashing.
From 1989 to 2017, seven crashes killed 41 service members and other passengers.
From 2018 to 2021, there were no fatal accidents.
In 2020 and 2021, two “Class A mishaps” — incidents that caused a service member to be permanently disabled, killed, or at least $2.5 million in damage to aircraft — were recorded, but neither were reported. fatal.
In 2022 and 2023, however, there were 11 similar problems,
four of them fatal
, according to military data reviewed by NBC News.
In March 2022, an accident in Norway killed four Marines.
The mishap was later attributed to pilot error.
Less than three months after the Norway accident, the Osprey carrying Evan and four other Marines crashed in the California desert, killing everyone on board, including him and Captains Nicholas P. Losapio and John J Sax, as well as foremen Nathan E. Carlson and Seth D. Rasmuson.
According to investigators, the June 2022 crash occurred after the aircraft experienced what is called a “hard clutch,” which is when the “clutch disengages from the rotor system and suddenly reengages,” causing which causes a loss of lift and the risk of a sudden fall.
The Osprey fell so quickly that the experienced pilots did not have time to establish any radio communication.
According to investigators, the fire caused by the accident was so intense that
it destroyed the black box of the aircraft.
The clutch problem was not new.
There were 12 hard clutch issues between 2010 and 2020, according to data from the Pentagon's V-22 Joint Program Office, but none were fatal.
Since the California accident, however, there have been six others.
The last one occurred in January 2023.
In February 2023, the military indicated that they were 99% sure they had solved the “hard clutch” problem.
A bulletin ordered the replacement of a part called the intake rod assembly after 800 hours of flight.
But
the military still could not explain why the problem was repeated.
A spokesperson for the program office added to NBC News that the leading theory among engineers involves partial engagement of some clutches that "have been installed for a long period of time," but that a "root cause" has yet to be determined. definitive.”
[The map route of the missing Marine helicopter and its last known location]
In August 2023, the crash in Australia killed Evan's friend Collart and two other service members.
The cause remains unknown and the investigation continues.
The accident off the coast of the Japanese island of Yakushima in November 2023 killed eight other service members.
NBC News reported earlier this week that the accident investigation is focusing on the aircraft's propeller gearbox, which connects the engines to the rotors.
“This latest incident has brought me into the realm of death traps,” one current service member wrote in a private Facebook group for the Osprey community.
NBC News is not revealing the member's name because the comments were shared confidentially.
“Military aviation is an inherently risky enterprise
,” explained Keith Wright, chief of public affairs for the Air Force, in response to a question about the Osprey incidents.
“Our main objective is to defend the nation in air, space and cyberspace, and to do so it is essential to preserve the combat capabilities provided by our personnel and our systems by mitigating those risks,” he added.
“There are a variety of reasons why accidents occur, which can include human error, mechanical failure, procedural guidelines or training.
“Every situation is different, and each situation is individually and thoroughly investigated to identify causal factors in an effort to prevent similar ones,” he stated.
In December, the military announced that it had grounded all of its Ospreys while it carried out its investigation.
(Some Ospreys have continued to fly in Djibouti and Okinawa when there have been emergencies.)
A spokesperson for Bell-Textron, maker of the Osprey, said: “Our thoughts are with those killed in these incidents, along with their families, friends and loved ones.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to safety and fully support the investigation.”
However, the Pentagon is now considering ending the grounding of the entire fleet, US officials say.
Neil Lobeda, spokesman for the Army Joint Programs Office, said in a statement: “Close coordination between senior leaders from all three services and the Security Investigation Board has been paramount in ensuring we provide our service members with the safest and most reliable aircraft possible.
“The safety and well-being of our personnel and the reliability of the V-22 remain a priority in our conversations as we determine our return to operations plan.”
Some members of the Osprey community are concerned that resuming flights will be too soon if the military cannot determine the cause of the Japan crash or the clutch problem that caused the crash in California.
Knowing what happened is not the same as knowing why.
[14 people die after the crash of a Mexican Navy helicopter in Sinaloa]
Families who lost loved ones are still demanding an answer.
“If they could tell us and be specific, I think the families would be calmer, especially those who are still flying, but that hasn't happened yet,” said Tim Loranger, an attorney representing the families of service members killed in Osprey accidents.
The Stricklands said they are relieved that the Ospreys have been grounded for the time being and want military contractors to fully investigate what is causing the clutch problem.
“Understanding the root cause of this event is crucial not only for our family, but for the safety and well-being of all who serve in the military aboard V-22s,” the family said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Navy's latest budget did not include new Osprey purchases, and some military brass anticipate that the current Ospreys will only serve as a temporary bridge to an undetermined new option.
There are also concerns that the longer planes remain on the ground, and the less pilots can fly, the more problems there could be.
A 2020 military aviation safety report concluded that one of the factors contributing to fatal accidents was insufficient flight time for pilots.
In 2022, the Osprey's total flight hours were slightly over 56,000, according to the Joint Program Office.
In 2023, they were reduced to 47,580.