Updated: Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2001 at 01:24 CST
Report says V-22 pilots weren't well-prepared
The flight manual and training program failed in warning crews of the dangers they faced, the GAO report notes.
By Bob Cox and Jennifer Autrey
Star-Telegram staff writers
Pilots at the controls of a V-22 Osprey that crashed in Arizona last year had received little warning or preparation for the hazardous conditions that caused the accident, according to a government report.
The report released Tuesday by the General Accounting Office cited Navy and Marine officials who concluded that the V-22 flight manual and training program did little to warn pilots of the dangers they faced.
Separately, a Pentagon advisory board also criticized the Navy for cutting corners during testing of the Osprey to save money and make up for schedule delays, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.
According to the GAO report, the Marines' accident investigator wrote that the "manual and V-22 ground school syllabus provides insufficient guidance/warning as to high rate of descent/slow airspeed conditions and the potential consequences."
The two reports are the latest in a series critical of the Marines for rushing to buy the V- 22 despite myriad problems with the revolutionary tilt-rotor aircraft.
Officially, the Marines have blamed the April 8 crash that killed 19 servicemen on errors by the aircraft's crew. The pilots, according to the accident report, descended too fast with too little airspeed and got caught in a turbulent condition, known as vortex ring state, that caused the V-22 to lose lift, roll over and crash.
The GAO report was prepared for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and a blue ribbon panel reviewing the V- 22 program. The report draws heavily on previously undisclosed portions of the Marines' crash report and the Navy report evaluating the V-22, and also cites reviews by other Defense Department agencies.
Navy officials also found shortcomings in the V-22 training regimen. The flight operations manual for the V-22 "lacked adequate content, accuracy and clarity," according to the report.
Specifically, although the flight manual warned pilots that "settling with power" -- another term for the turbulent phenomenon that caused the Arizona crash -- could occur if the V-22 descends at a rate greater than 800 feet per minute and less than 46 miles per hour, it didn't warn pilots that they might not be able to control the aircraft if they violated those parameters. The manual is called the NATOPS, short for Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization.
In addition to the lack of clear warnings in the flight manual, the conditions that could lead to a crash were not replicated in the V-22 flight simulator.
The GAO found that "the V- 22 appears to be less forgiving than conventional aircraft" when it enters vortex ring state. And it noted that many flight tests, including some that would have provided greater insight into the V-22's susceptibility to the turbulent air condition, were cut to save money and time.
The V-22 is built jointly by Fort Worth-based Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing's helicopter unit in Ridley Park, Pa.
Jim Furman, an Austin lawyer representing the widow of the co-pilot in the Arizona crash and himself a former Army helicopter pilot, said the GAO comments are important.
"The NATOPS manual is the bible," Furman said. "It tells the pilot how the aircraft is going to fly and react to certain situations."
Furman said information gained by test pilots during flights is communicated to pilots undergoing training through the manual. Flying without the manual, or with an incomplete one, "is like trying to put together a kid's bike without the instructions," he said.
But a source close to the Marines said that the pilots of the doomed V-22 knew the dangers posed by too fast a descent.
"The nature of the warning is clear, that it is dangerous," said the source, who requested anonymity. "That point is unambiguous in the NATOPS."
The source also said that "the Marine Corps believes sufficient testing was done to establish a very conservative, safe flight envelope" for the V- 22 that, if it had been followed by the pilots in Arizona, would have prevented the fatal crash.
Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that the Defense Science Board, which advises the Pentagon on technical issues, singled out the V-22's testing as symptomatic of how the military evaluates major weapons programs before committing billions of dollars for production.
"The V-22 severely reduced early development testing in order to save money and recover schedule," the board said.
The two reports will fuel a growing debate in Congress over whether to scrap the V-22 program, analysts said. The Senate Armed Services Committee, which commissioned the science board report, plans hearings on the Osprey. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., has introduced a bill to freeze the program pending results of the ongoing investigations.
"It's really the Marine Corps vs. the rest of the world on the safety of the program's future," said Richard Aboulafia, a military aviation analyst with the Teal Group, a defense market analysis group based in Washington, D.C.
The Marine Corps, which wants the aircraft for both military and nonmilitary missions, has put all its political energy into pushing the program, both inside and outside the Pentagon, Aboulafia said.
Bob Cox, (817) 548-5534
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Jennifer Autrey (817) 390-7126
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