Osprey Crash Report Cites Reset Button

When the reset button on the computer of their beleaguered aircraft lit up, flight crew members did what almost anyone would do--they pushed it. That simple and logical act brought down their plane and raised serious questions about the future of the Marine Corps’ $40-billion Osprey project.

According to the Marines’ official report Thursday on the fatal V-22 Osprey crash, the Dec. 11, 2000, accident began when a hydraulic line ruptured. However, the hybrid aircraft--which takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like a plane--probably could have withstood that mishap.

Investigators called for “a complete and comprehensive review” of the software to find out why the system went wrong. Four Marines were killed in the accident.

It has been known for several months that a hydraulic line, worn through because it was chafed by wires that the aircraft design placed too close to it, contributed to the Osprey crash. But the still-unexplained role of the reset button was not as well understood before the release of the Pentagon report.

The crew pushed the reset button eight or 10 times as they tried to right the craft, Maj. Gen. Martin R. Berndt, commanding general of the marine expeditionary force that includes the Ospreys, told reporters at the Pentagon.

Pushing the button, he said, “started a chain of unpredicted and uncontrollable events that caused alternating deceleration and acceleration of the aircraft” until it stalled and crashed.

What should have happened when the button was pushed?

“Absolutely nothing,” said Lt. Col. William J. Wainwright, executive officer of the Marine aircraft group at New River air station in Jacksonville, N.C., where the accident occurred.

He explained that the reset function has a number of purposes, but in the crisis faced by the Osprey crew, pushing it should have done nothing “other than put the light out.”

Berndt said the investigators also called for the aircraft’s manufacturer, a joint venture of Boeing and Bell Helicopter, to complete a comprehensive study of the proximity of hydraulic lines and bundles of wires. He said that all eight Osprey aircraft in the squadron at New River showed some degree of hydraulic line chafing.

Berndt acknowledged that the Marines have been aware of the chafing problem since June 1999.

The hydraulic and software problems were another serious blow to the hard-pressed Osprey project that the Marines hope will provide a faster and more capable replacement for the helicopters they used extensively in Vietnam.

“We realize there are things that must be fixed before we put these planes into the hands of Marines prepared to go to war,” Berndt said.

The crash was the second last year involving a Marine V-22 Osprey. Last April, 19 Marines were killed when an Osprey crashed during a training exercise. That accident was later blamed on pilot error.

In January, the Marine Corps suspended the commander of the Osprey training squadron amid allegations that he urged subordinates to falsify maintenance records. The Pentagon’s inspector general, the top internal investigative unit of the Defense Department, is looking into the charges that Lt. Col. Odin Fred Leberman sought to cover up maintenance problems to improve the Osprey’s prospects for full approval.

Perhaps more troubling for the project, the department is conducting a blue-ribbon study into whether it should be continued or scrapped.

Although Marine officials insist that the aircraft is fundamentally sound, critics contend that it has mechanical weaknesses and that its innovative design is too delicate for military service.

The Pentagon had been expected to decide in December to put the aircraft into full-scale production. But that decision was postponed indefinitely after the crash.

Responding to allegations that the Osprey squadron ignored serious safety problems, Berndt said the investigation “revealed some individual and squadron practices that were not in compliance with established regulations.” He said those deficiencies were not related to the cause of the accident but “they are issues of concern and will be addressed by the Marine Corps.”