John is exactly right.....especially when one considers the 53 is single rotored...and thus not possibly susceptible to differential Vortex Ring State.
Despite the three Accident Investigators clearly stating it is their separate and jointly held opinion the two pilots were not responsible for the accident....I would suggest they are much closer to the issue and thus have a basis upon which to make that statement.
Sans....I really do object to you saying what you just did about the Pilots....both in tone....and more specifically as it is directly opposed to what the Accident Report and the three Accident Investigators had to say.
It is a USMC Press Statement that laid the blame on the pilots.....not the Accident Inquiry.
I submit both you and the USMC are wrong in what you are saying.
It is because of that fatal crash that more testing had to be done and the true dangers of VRS in the Osprey became known.
The two dead men did not have benefit of all that later data.....did they?