A Nation Mourns

A Bell-Boeing V22 Osprey of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261 suffered a fatal accident on 18 March 2022 during the joint U.S., Norwegian military Cold Response exercise. The aircraft—operating somewhat forebodingly under the call sign, Ghost 31—was enroute to Bodo, in Norway’s north, but impacted the ground near Gratadalen, some 47-kilometers south of its destination.

Military and civilian search and rescue personnel confirmed the following day that the Osprey’s crew of four Marines had perished. The decedents had been assigned to 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

On 14 August 2022, the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing issued a public statement asserting the 18 March Osprey accident was attributable to pilot error.

According to subject statement, investigators—after considering prevailing atmospheric conditions, pilot training, errors in maintenance paperwork, use of recording devices, and inexperience in mountainous terrain—identified the accident’s primary cause as a series of low-altitude maneuvers that exceeded the MV-22B’s maximum angle-of-bank.

Aircraft wreckage recovered from the impact-site indicated the accident was preceded by a 68° angle-of-bank left turn, the steepness of which resulted in concomitant losses of airspeed and altitude. Endeavoring to return the aircraft to a wings-level attitude, the pilot erroneously applied an opposite-direction over-correction of 80° angle-of-bank—from which the aircraft could not recover. Both maneuvers were beyond the Osprey’s published operational thresholds.

The Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization Manual identifies 60° as MV-22B’s maximum angle-of-bank.

It is not known which pilot was in control of the aircraft at the time of the accident.

In any case, the businesses of aircraft accident investigation and post-accident speculation ought remain mutually exclusive. To that end, Aero News Network gratefully acknowledges the service, and mourns the loss of aircraft commander Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; co-pilot Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27, of Leominster, Massachusetts; aerial observer Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy, 30, of Cambridge, Ohio; and crew chief Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24, of Catlettsburg, Kentucky.

FMI: www.marines.com