WASHINGTON (AP) — An Osprey crash in Australia that killed three Marines last August was caused by multiple pilot errors during a near-collision in midair, a military investigation found. It also found that squadron leadership “allowed a culture of disregard for flight safety.”

Two Marines were killed in the Aug. 27 crash: pilots Captain Eleanor V. LeBeau, 29, and Maj. Tobin J. Lewis, 37. A third Marine, Crew Chief Cpl. Spencer R. Collart, 21, was killed when he “heroically returned to the burning cockpit of the aircraft to rescue the trapped pilots,” investigators said in a report released late Friday.

Their loss “continues to be felt throughout the Marine Corps,” the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force said in a statement on Friday.

The crash was one of four fatal accidents in the past two years that have brought the V-22 Osprey, which can fly as both an airplane and a helicopter, back into the spotlight in Congress. The Osprey has been vital in special operations and combat missions, but is considered one of the most difficult aircraft to fly and maintain and has a problematic accident history. The Osprey is currently undergoing a series of reviews to see if it is suitable for the future of the military.

The accident in Australia revealed significant safety deficiencies within the squadron. Investigators recommended punitive measures, including the possible court-martial of a senior squadron member and possible administrative action against the squadron’s former commander, Lt. Col. Joe Whitefield, who they said “permitted a culture of disregard for flight safety procedures.”

A senior maintenance officer, whose name was not released, was found guilty of neglect of duty and of violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice for improperly completing and signing a form after the crash detailing the weight and load of the aircraft. Lewis, the aircraft commander of the crashed Osprey, should have seen that information before the flight. Investigators recommended that the maintenance officer face administrative or legal action.

Given the severity of the safety violations, investigators also recommended that all Marine Corps Osprey squadrons schedule a temporary suspension of flight operations (a “standdown”) to investigate this accident.

It is the second recent Marine Corps Osprey accident in which critical flight and voice data was lost because the recorder was destroyed by the post-crash fire. After a 2022 Osprey crash in California that killed five Marines, investigators recommended replacing all flight data recorders on the Marine Corps’ MV-22B Ospreys with a version that is heat and fire resistant and would survive a crash.

In a statement, the V-22 program office said that all of the Marine Corps’ flight data recorders meet current requirements, but “all data recorders will eventually fail in a fire after prolonged use.” However, the program office said it is still considering relocating or replacing the recorder.

The Hawaii-based squadron was operating at full speed during its overseas deployment to Australia and may have been overstretched. In the three weeks before the fatal crash, the squadron experienced two minor accidents, including a near-miss that was also related to weight and loading issues that investigators say should have been a red flag.

The fact that the two previous accidents did not prompt former commander Whitefield to make a stop to look for major safety problems “is extremely concerning and directly contributed to the failure to follow required flight safety and weight and power procedures on August 27,” investigators found.

On the day of the crash, Lewis was simultaneously the flight instructor to the lead aircraft pilot and aircraft commander of his own Osprey during a complex multinational exercise. However, investigators found that Lewis did not attend mission planning meetings detailing the flight and did not review the aircraft’s load, maintenance history or risk assessment before takeoff, so he did not fully understand the flight, investigators said.

Investigators found that both Ospreys were carrying 2,000 pounds more fuel than planned and that they had only used estimates of how much each of the soldiers in the back would weigh. The weight of an aircraft plays a critical role in how safely it can be controlled by pilots.

The Osprey that crashed was also not fully serviced, but none of the squadron leaders prevented the aircraft from taking off. Although the outstanding maintenance was not identified as the cause of the crash, “the aircraft ultimately should not have been certified as airworthy,” investigators found.

A fourth crew member was seriously injured in the crash. The crash occurred while the two Ospreys were flying low on their final approach to landing during the multinational exercise.

In the final minutes of the flight, the lead Osprey reduced power without informing the trailing Osprey, and the trailing Osprey did not notice the rapidly closing gap between the two aircraft in time, investigators found. The trailing Osprey responded by making a steep turn to avoid a mid-air collision, then quickly entered two more steep turns that placed the aircraft in a position where it faced a 20-knot tailwind.

The aircraft commander did not realise the seriousness of the situation and did not take over flight control until it was already too late. By this time the following Osprey’s rotors were no longer tilted and the power settings were no longer able to handle the maneuvers with the weight of the aircraft. The aircraft quickly went into a spin, could not be recovered and crashed nose down.

There were a total of 23 Marines on board the crashed plane. The 19 soldiers in the rear, who were flown to a drop point for the military exercise, all survived.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.