Marine Osprey Helicopter Crashes in N.C.
A U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey with four crewmen on board crashed on Monday during a night-training mission in coastal North Carolina, the second crash involving one of the new tilt-rotor aircraft this year, the Marine Corps said.
Military and civilian rescue workers, along with rescue helicopters from the Marine Corps New River Air Station, were trying to reach the crash site in a remote wooded area near Jacksonville, a statement from the air base said.
The aircraft, one of the first of 360 MV-22 Osprey the Marine Corps plans to purchase to replace its aging fleet of transport helicopters, belongs to the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Training Squadron 204 based at New River.
A Marine V-22 Osprey crashed on a training mission in Arizona last April, killing 19 aboard. That crash was later blamed on pilot error.
The $44-million hybrid aircraft was designed to take off like a helicopter and fly like an airplane, and will be deployed by the Marines to ferry troops off ships and into hot spots, and for rescue missions.
The Osprey is built by Boeing and Bell Helicopter, a division of Textron Inc.
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