Gear Trouble Causes Marines to Ground Big Copters Again

For the second time this year, the Marine Corps has suspended flights of the crash-plagued CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter because of malfunctioning gears on aircraft based in Tustin.

Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach), who earlier this year called for grounding the entire fleet of Super Stallions, said that he learned of the Marine Corps grounding last weekend and that he had been assured that the order had followed a “minor occurrence.”

Navy and Marine Corps officials acknowledged the suspension Tuesday. They said it is limited to training flights. In February, the Navy temporarily grounded all 93 Super Stallions worldwide and began replacing suspect gearbox assemblies.

More Malfunctions

Marine and Navy officials said more malfunctions occurred in June and were found during post-flight maintenance.

“The three separate incidents were all in the month of June after normal flight operations,” a Navy spokeswoman said. “There were no accidents and no deaths or injuries associated with these discoveries. . . . The origin and the cause of the failures are under investigation.”

Last October, a CH-53E was returning to the Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station in Tustin when it developed transmission problems and the pilot made a precautionary landing in a strawberry field in Irvine.

No one was injured, but that incident led to February’s grounding of the entire fleet. Since then, more than a dozen of the 45 CH-53Es based at Tustin had been returned to service, while others were still waiting for replacement parts, according to Staff Sgt. Jim Hager at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Hager and Navy officials said they did not know immediately if the gear problems reported in June involved aircraft that had received new parts following disassembly and inspection of all CH-53E transmissions or old parts that had been reassembled.

Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft is conducting an engineering study of the June incidents to determine whether new parts were the problem, officials said.

Company officials could not be reached for comment.

The Super Stallion, which can lift 16 tons or carry 55 fully equipped soldiers, is one of the biggest and most powerful helicopters in the world. Its rotors are turned by three jet engines.

Badham Criticized Aircraft

The aircraft, which each cost more than $20 million, has been criticized by Badham, a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. Once a staunch supporter of the aircraft, Badham called for the indefinite grounding of the helicopter earlier this year. His action came after a congressional probe revealed that the Navy ignored information it had received since 1976 about an “inherent design deficiency” involving a serious vibration problem.

Badham had complained to then-Navy Secretary John Lehman that the CH-53E has had a “puzzling string” of 39 mishaps in which at least 20 Marines have been killed and 17 Marines have been injured.

The military responded by placing flight restrictions on the helicopter, and a blue-ribbon panel was formed to monitor extensive tests of two aircraft pulled from service. Badham said Tuesday he expects to receive a report of initial test findings within two weeks.

He said the current suspension of training flights is “unremarkable” except that “the whole transmission was taken down” recently on all of the CH-53Es.

“I shouldn’t speculate,” Badham said, “but it may have something to do with the way they were put back together. . . . We’re watching the situation.”

Badham said the suspension of training flights was ordered by Marine officials at the Tustin base, then adopted at the Marine base at Camp Lejeune, N.C.