On June 8, 2022, a United States Marine Corps MV-22B “Osprey” crashed near Glamis, California, just a few miles north of the Mexican border. Five marines, including the pilot, died in the crash. The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is a tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing, and short takeoff and landing capabilities. The aircraft was co-developed by Bell Textron, Inc., and Boeing Helicopters.
The Osprey became operational in the American armed forces in 2007. Since then, the Osprey has had thirteen (13) hull loss accidents, which have resulted in over fifty (50) fatalities. During the Osprey’s development from 1991 to 2006, there were four crashes, with a combined loss of thirty (30) lives. The June 8, 2022, crash is the second multi-fatality Osprey crash in 2022. The first occurred on March 18, 2022, during a joint military exercise near Beiarn, Norway. That aircraft was carrying a crew of four Marines, all of whom perished in the crash.
All five Marines involved in the crash of June 8, 2022, were stationed out of Camp Pendleton in California and assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 364. Currently, the cause of the crash is still under investigation. Notwithstanding, the U.S. Navy issued a one-day pause on all Navy aircraft on June 11, 2022, that effectively took place on Monday, June 13, 2022, for all “non-deployed Navy aviation units.” In a press release on June 11, 2022, the Commander of the Naval Air Forces clarified that the one-day pause would be used to “review risk-management practices and conduct raining on threat and error-management processes.” Abraham Watkins has well-documented experience of successfully litigating cases against aircraft manufacturers and will continue to monitor the investigation as information is released.
If you or someone you know has been injured or killed in an aircraft crash that you believe was the result of pilot error or product failure, please contact the office of Ben Agosto III at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner, at (713) 222-7211; toll-free at 1-800-594-4884; or by email at [email protected].