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MV-22 Osprey Accident

falcon409

falcon409

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Staff member
I didn't want to disrupt the MV-22 thread with this so a separate thread was in order. A Marine Osprey went down off the coast of Australia near Shoalwater Bay, during a combined Training Exercise. Happened sometime this morning I believe. There were 26 on-board and they have successfully rescued 23. There is a search on to find the remaining 3 souls. Last time I checked, just awhile ago, they were still searching.

UPDATE: Additional info relates that the V-22 was attempting to land on the USS Green Bay and crashed against it apparently and went into the water. The flight deck was damaged enough to halt all flight Ops. It happened around 2AM this morning and within the hour they had rescued all but the three that remain missing. . .which doesn't bode well for those poor souls.
 
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falcon409 said:
I didn't want disrupt the MV-22 thread with this so a separate thread was in order. A Marine Osprey went down off the coast of Australia near Shoalwater Bay, during a combined Training Exercise. Happened sometime this morning I believe. There were 26 on-board and they have successfully rescued 23. There is a search on to find the remaining 3 souls. Last time I checked, just awhile ago, they were still searching.

UPDATE: Additional info relates that the V-22 was attempting to land on the USS Green Bay and crashed against it apparently and went into the water. The flight deck was damaged enough to halt all flight Ops. It happened around 2AM this morning and within the hour they had rescued all but the three that remain missing. . .which doesn't bode well for those poor souls.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info Ed, sad as it is.
Where is the squadrons home station?
 
The latest is that the Search and Rescue effort has been called off and is now considered a recovery and could take several months to complete depending on conditions within the search area. I think it was probably obvious to those in the area of the crash that after the 3 were not found within the time frame that the other 23 were located it was simply a matter of continuing the search for a period of time, but with little hope that they would still be alive. Pretty sad. Prayers for the Marines lost in this accident, for their families back home and their fellow Marines.
 
The Shoalwater Bay training area covers a large area and was activated in 1965 IIRC.
It appears the Osprey went down off the coast of FNQ outside the bay itself, Matt ('jeansy') might have some insider knowledge of the incident.
Recovery operations might be very difficult due to the Tidal flows and currents in the open water.
7RAR were 'early users' of the zone before my first deployment, decades past.
Sad to lose men in training but it happens.
 
The squadron is based at MCAS Fontenma, Okinawa, Japan.
Where the squads on board when she went down are based I don't know. Possibly Camp Pendleton, or maybe LeJune. I couldn't find any details on them.
I also don't know if was one of the squads on board, or the aircrew that are missing. If they were Camp Pen Marines, I am really glad my daughter got out a few years back, since that's where she was stationed.
Very frustrating to have such great news coverage the world over, and yet be missing these details... :banghead:
I'm sure the Corps is withholding the information on the missing Marines "pending notification of next of kin". It's standard for the Corps, but still frustrating not to know if it was aircrew, grunts, both...?

From what I've read in Approach magazine, the MV-22 has power problems when heavily loaded, sometimes. When they come out of the ship's ground effect, if the pilots aren't on the ball, and/or have done all their power computations properly, they can drop into the water, which is my guess on this, but it's JUST a guess.

Anyway, take care all, and on behalf of Marines the world over, my thanks for your thoughts and prayers.
Pat☺
 
wombat666 said:
The Shoalwater Bay training area covers a large area and was activated in 1965 IIRC.
It appears the Osprey went down off the coast of FNQ outside the bay itself, Matt ('jeansy') might have some insider knowledge of the incident.
Recovery operations might be very difficult due to the Tidal flows and currents in the open water.
7RAR were 'early users' of the zone before my first deployment, decades past.
Sad to lose men in training but it happens.
Click to expand...


yep its a big area and sadly if they arent recovered soon, you can only fear the worst they may never be recovered,

its a shallow region but massive tidals as its a feed of the GBR and the waters from the reef and bay scream through there

I have spent many moons in and around shoalwater with amphib units, if the water doesnt get you, the nasties inside will

A sad day indeed but those who have been or are there, we all the job comes with risks and we all know them well and accept them so we all can remain a tight family and do what we love

same uniform just a different colour or pattern

unfortunately I only know what is in the media, as for inside info, I know for sure all units involved will have email and phones turned off and what is sent thru the air waves isnt something even if i did know I couldnt disclose anyway
 
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PhantomTweak said:
. . . . .From what I've read in Approach magazine, the MV-22 has power problems when heavily loaded, sometimes. When they come out of the ship's ground effect, if the pilots aren't on the ball, and/or have done all their power computations properly, they can drop into the water, which is my guess on this, but it's JUST a guess.
Pat☺
Click to expand...
This happened early AM Saturday (2AM or thereabouts) and they were on approach to the USS Green Bay. Apparently as I've mentioned in my previous posts, there was a mishap close to the ship as there was damage to the flight deck that caused Flight Ops to be discontinued. In that scenario one can conjure any number of hazards despite the use of their NightVis equipment. . .a sudden lurch of the ship, a loss of power (as you mention), wind shift, loss of situational awareness. . .you name it. The only saving grace to this was that they were close to the ship. . .had this happened out of sight, the numbers rescued might not have been so favorable.
 
falcon409 said:
This happened early AM Saturday (2AM or thereabouts) and they were on approach to the USS Green Bay. Apparently as I've mentioned in my previous posts, there was a mishap close to the ship as there was damage to the flight deck that caused Flight Ops to be discontinued. In that scenario one can conjure any number of hazards despite the use of their NightVis equipment. . .a sudden lurch of the ship, a loss of power (as you mention), wind shift, loss of situational awareness. . .you name it. The only saving grace to this was that they were close to the ship. . .had this happened out of sight, the numbers rescued might not have been so favorable.
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it was a daylight crash not a lowlight crash, it happened about 4pm local, and there is a lot of light at that time

this story surfaced lastnight in australia(nearly 24hrs ago)

regardless we have no idea how or what happened and wont know nothing until the report is released, I only say this as in 2006 I was involved with a blackhawk crash on a back of a ship that took 2 lives in Fiji, the helo hit at 1611h it was on the news by 1800 and the animations and the reporters had already made up their minds on how it happened, from what I saw with my eyes that afternoon and what was on the news was completely 2 different events

and again in 2015 I was on a unit that was the first responder on scene for MH370 the 14weeks in the southern Indian ocean in horrible seas, people on the internet had the nerve to question our ability from the safe confines of their home how we could not find the "wing" or "lift raft" that was spotted by a satellite , in 30-40 seas with 50kts of wind, and anyone who went outside had to be strapped in or tied to something, it was bloody hard just to see the horizon or 500m around you with all the white water and spray or a flare that a P3 would drop near our location marking possible debris

What Im saying rather than speculating and being a air crash investigator from behind the keyboard, just hope the 3 members are found and recovered, and think of their families

We are not there or involved so there is no point trying to solve something we have no idea about except for the snippets we get from new reports and we know how reporters always get 100% of the facts correct.

Sadly another US serviceman is lost over here conducting an exercise, Ive lost count how many have perished here. Again this highlights that aircraft working with and around ships is a dangerous activity regardless of skill and quality of machinery.
 
wombat666 said:
The Shoalwater Bay training area covers a large area and was activated in 1965 IIRC.
It appears the Osprey went down off the coast of FNQ outside the bay itself, Matt ('jeansy') might have some insider knowledge of the incident.
Recovery operations might be very difficult due to the Tidal flows and currents in the open water.
7RAR were 'early users' of the zone before my first deployment, decades past.
Click to expand...

Ive never met a solider or marine that has enjoyed their time on "the island" except some Commanding Officer of some Marine Division in 97 during EX Tandem Thrust who visited us daily because we had an open beer fridge on our LCH and considered our conditions of the trades very easy.

I still remember i was walking along the beach on Townsend island in my blue overalls which i cut the sleeves off which only leaving my rank and rate and the legs where rolled up to my knees and wearing thongs and heard this deep husky voice "Hey sailor , I like your hat" he was referring to my slouch that was bent out of shape like old Les (the bush tuckerman) where I replied thanks mate and kept walking, then he replied "I like your hat" again I just waved and kept walking , one of his staff came running up to me and whispered in my ear that the guy wanted it and was willing to trade...... I saw dollar signs instantly

I had my first ride in a LCAC, CH46, blew up stuff from behind a 155mm howie, a bag of 50+ real cuban cigars plus acquired several other items, just for a slab of XXXX beer and bottle of Jim Beam

anyway back to the topic, one of our survey ships is enroute that has excellent bottom scanning capability and a Dive team is being flown up. When the ship finds the wreckage, the divers will be able to recover the 3 Marines. Our Divers are good at what they do, I will give those guys that.
 
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