Osprey crash Morocco

[kbrockman]

2 Marines killed in Morocco Osprey crash - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times (http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2012/04/marine-morocco-2-marines-killed-osprey-crash-041112w/)
Osprey crash

By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Apr 11, 2012 18:08:58 EDT

Two Marines were killed and two severely injured in the crash of an MV-22 Osprey during a training mission in southern Morocco, the Marine Corps confirmed Wednesday.

The Osprey crashed in a military training area southwest of Agadir, Morocco, after taking off from aboard the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima, said Capt. Kevin Schultz, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon in Washington.

The four Marines were the only personnel aboard the Osprey at the time of the crash.

The aircraft was attached to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which deployed from Camp Lejeune, N.C., on March 29. Among the major subordinate units that belonged to the MEU was Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, an Osprey unit out of Marine Corps Air Station New River,

Sad to hear, still a challenging plane it seems.

[barnstormer1968]

Best thoughts and wishes to the families involved.
RIP to those who died and the speediest recovery to the two injured.

I have no idea as to whether the aircraft is still challenging as there are no details on why the Osprey came down!

[GreenKnight121]

kbrockman... does that mean that the Chinook is an even more challenging aircraft to fly?

Because the last 5 years have seen far, far more Chinook fatal crashes to "other than battle damage" causes than Osprey crashes (only 2 since 2001).

There are currently 10 USMC and at least 2 USAF Osprey squadrons, and several of those have made combat deployments to Iraq & Afghanistan... as well as shipboard deployments... and this is only the second Osprey crash since those deployments began to Iraq in late 2007 and Afghanistan in late 2009.

On 18 February 2011, Marine Commandant General James Amos indicated Marine MV-22s deployed to Afghanistan surpassed 100,000 flight hours and were noted as having become "the safest airplane, or close to the safest airplane” in the Marine Corps inventory. The average V-22 mishap rate based on flight hours over the past 10 years, has been approximately half the accident rate for the USMC aircraft fleet. The V-22's accident rate is the lowest of any Marine rotorcraft.

[VinRouge]

How many osprey are operating in comparison to the CH47?

[kbrockman]

kbrockman... does that mean that the Chinook is an even more challenging aircraft to fly?

Because the last 5 years have seen far, far more Chinook fatal crashes to "other than battle damage" causes than Osprey crashes (only 2 since 2001).

You have a point, and like the poster before you said, I was premature in questionning the V22 before any statement is made by the DoD as to why it crashed.
Call it a kneejerk reaction when I saw "V22" and "accident", my bad.