Boeing MV-22B Osprey: Deadly track record of aircraft that crashed in NT killing US Marines

The deaths of three US Marines when a Boeing MV-22B Osprey crashed in the Northern Territory add to a deadly track record for the aircraft. Its history is littered with crashes and controversy, and last year alone the aircraft was involved in five accidents across three countries, two of them fatal. In March, an MV-22B Osprey came down in northern Norway, killing four US Marines during a training mission. Then, in June, five marines were killed when their aircraft crashed near San Diego in California due to mechanical failures. The latest crash in the Northern Territory is the second fatal Osprey crash in Australia. The first came in 2017 when an aircraft came down off Queensland’s coast. A rescue operation was launched with 23 of the 26 crew members rescued, but three could not be saved. When it was first introduced, the Osprey’s technology was groundbreaking as it was the first aircraft in operation to use tiltrotor technology. The aircraft is able to take off and land like a traditional helicopter but can rotate its engines allowing it to function like a conventional aircraft while in flight. While impressive, the technology quickly proved to be problematic with the aircraft causing fatalities even before it became fully operational. In April 2000, an Osprey crashed and exploded killing the 19 marines onboard after the aircraft’s right rotor stalled mid-flight in Arizona. It is one of the worst military flight accidents in history. Later the same year, an Osprey crash in northern California killed another four marines.