A Presidential Fleet Osprey V-22 hybrid aircraft remains on the ground after an engine fire in flight.
A U.S. Marine Corps V-22 Osprey Presidential Fleet HMX-1 helicopter carrying White House staff and officials was grounded after an engine fire en route to New York City for a “Friendship Night” flight to escort President Joe Biden.
After the incident on Monday, passengers were safely transferred to a second Osprey aircraft and continued their journey from a U.S. Coast Guard event in Staten Island.
The accident occurred when Massachusetts Democrats Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and Rep. Richard Neal wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urging him to ground the entire fleet of Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey aircraft after several accidents, the most recent of which was in November 2023, which killed eight U.S. service members in Japan.
“Given the current concerns about the safety of the V-22, the aircraft should be grounded and not deployed again until significant platform deficiencies are adequately addressed,” the lawmakers wrote.
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Pentagon gives green light for V-22 Osprey to resume flights after fatal accident
The entire V-22 Osprey fleet (a hybrid aircraft that takes off, hovers and lands like a helicopter but flies like a regular airplane) for the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and presidential fleet was grounded in December 2023 and was not allowed to resume operations until March, albeit with some restrictions.
The Pentagon investigation determined that the accident was caused by a “catastrophic failure” of a component in one of the gearboxes and pilot error.
Naval Air Systems Command said at the time that the decision to allow the V-22 to fly again came after a “careful, data-driven approach that prioritized the safety of our crews,” which included testing “risk mitigation controls.”
Command officials, however, declined to specify which component had failed. They insisted the actions they conducted would allow the aircraft to safely resume flight.
