Congress accuses Pentagon of failing to provide key information to investigate deadly Osprey crashes

Congressional investigators say their six-month investigation into the Osprey military aircraft crashes was hampered by Pentagon officials who refused to release key safety investigation reports.

The House Oversight Committee’s investigation was launched after 20 service members were killed in four separate Osprey crashes in less than two years, leaving grieving families demanding answers as to why so many accidents occurred involving the twin-rotor aircraft.

Three Pentagon officials will face questions from members of the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning; the families of those killed in the crashes also plan to attend.

Michelle and Wayland Strickland, who lost their son, Lance Cpl. Evan Strickland, in a Marine Osprey crash in California in June 2022, were reached at their home in New Mexico. They said they had planned to fly overnight to Washington to arrive in time for the hearing.

“I would say we are confident that this is the beginning of a real fix for the issues that have plagued the Osprey platform over the years, and we hope it will lead to the safety of those who use it in the future,” said Wayland Strickland.

In prepared testimony, committee chairman Glenn Grothman (R-Wisc.) said, “Since the V-22 became operational, it has been involved in several crashes during training exercises that have killed over 50 troops. These incidents have earned the Osprey the disturbing nickname ‘widowmaker,’ underscoring the serious concerns about its safety and reliability.”

In joint testimony given before the hearing, Vice Admiral Carl Chebi, commander of Naval Air Systems Command, and Gary Kurtz, program manager for the air, anti-submarine, strike and special mission programs at the Pentagon, said the frequency of serious accidents involving the Osprey has the “full attention and support of Navy, USMC and USAF leadership.” They wrote that they are focused on “addressing this problem, with the clear awareness that much work remains to be done.”

Class A accidents are the most serious category of military accidents. They are incidents that result in permanent disability of a service member, death, or at least $2.5 million in damage to the aircraft.

In recent years there has been an increase in accidents involving Osprey Class A.

In 2020 and 2021, there were two Class A crashes but no fatalities. But in 2022 and 2023, there were 11 Class A crashes, four of them fatal, according to military data reviewed by NBC News.

Fatal incidents are followed by two investigations, a safety investigation commission and a military accident investigation.

The Safety Investigation Board investigates the root cause of the accident and makes recommendations to prevent future accidents. The board produces a safety report.

Military accident investigations into fatal crashes are published online and are accessible through the Freedom of Information Act.

According to a former military accident investigator, reports from the Safety Investigation Board (SBI) are generally not published.

The House Oversight Committee said it was denied access to the National Security Investigations Committee’s reports on the Osprey crashes because Pentagon officials said the reports were confidential.

Committee staff said they offered to review the reports in a secure location, but the Pentagon refused to release them.

Committee staff say the information they have received from the Pentagon so far is consistent with what is already publicly known about the Osprey accidents.

The Pentagon’s V-22 Joint Program Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the committee’s statements.

The most recent Osprey crash in Japan in November 2023 resulted in the grounding of all 386 operational Osprey aircraft in the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. The grounding lasted from December to March, after which the military determined the aircraft was safe for a limited return to flight operations. Since the grounding was lifted, the aircraft has flown 7,000 hours, according to Pentagon officials. Ospreys will not be fully operational until mid-2025, according to the statements.

Kurtz and Chebi point out that the safety investigation commission into the crash in Japan found that the cause of the crash was a “catastrophic mechanical aircraft failure, the likes of which had never occurred before in the V-22 fleet.”

NBC News reported in February that the investigation in Japan was focusing on the plane’s propeller rotor gear.

The investigation into the crash in Japan in November and a separate investigation into a crash in Australia in August are ongoing.

Four families who lost loved ones in the June 2022 crash have filed lawsuits against Osprey manufacturers Boeing, Rolls-Royce and Bell-Textron, demanding answers about the problems with the aircraft.

“We are pleased that Congress and members of this committee are paying much-needed attention to the safety of our service members who fly and rely on the V-22 Osprey,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Timothy Loranger, a Marine veteran, pilot and former military aircraft mechanic. “We hope this hearing will result in a demand for greater transparency from the manufacturers regarding historical issues and current efforts to identify and address the root cause of the recent accidents. The Osprey crews and their families are entitled to assurances that their beloved aircraft are safe and airworthy.”