Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : COUNTY : Gearbox Assembly Checked on Grounded Marine Helicopters

At bases around the world last week, the Marine Corps and the Navy grounded their accident-plagued CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters until inspectors could examine the main gearbox assembly on one of the aircraft’s three large engines.

In a terse announcement, the military said flights of more than 90 Super Stallions stationed at the bases around the world, including those at the Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin, were suspended. Military officials said they did not know how long it would take to inspect the gearboxes, but a Navy source said they hoped to have as many as 30 helicopters flying in two weeks.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman told United Press International that the Super Stallions were grounded after a manufacturing defect was found on Feb. 12 in an assembly that goes into the transmission, and it was discovered the next day that the problem was widespread.

Another Pentagon source told the Associated Press that the main gearbox on each aircraft will be replaced before the helicopter will be allowed to fly. The replacement process reportedly takes 10 hours.

Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach), who is conducting a congressional inquiry into the Super Stallion, called the Navy’s decision to suspend flights “a timely demonstration that the Marine Corps is pursuing all the leads on anything that happens.”

The Super Stallion is the largest helicopter made outside the Soviet Union. It can cost up to $24 million and is capable of carrying 55 combat-equipped troops or lifting 16 tons of equipment.

But the three-engine craft has been plagued with problems since it was first delived to the Marines and Navy in 1980 by its manufacturer, Sikorsky Aircraft of Stratford, Conn. The Super Stallion has been involved in six fatal crashes that killed 24 Marines. Another 17 Marines have been injured in accidents with the Super Stallion.

The latest fatal crash occurred Jan. 8 in Imperial Valley. All five crew members of the Tustin-based helicopter died when it plummeted to the desert floor during nighttime troop deployment exercises. Military officials refused to speculate about the cause of the crash, but an Imperial County deputy coroner at the scene noticed that there were no skid marks and said it appeared that the helicopter came straight down. He said he did not think that pilot error caused the accident.

The crashes have fueled a debate in the cities of Tustin and Irvine, which border air bases in Tustin and El Toro, about the helicopters. Irvine Mayor Larry Agran said he believes it is time for the Marines to move all their helicopters out of densely populated Orange County and south to Camp Pendleton.