Norway Osprey crash investigation could take months: USMC | News
The US Marine Corps (USMC) may need months to investigate the ‘aviation accident’ involving a Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey which crashed during recent training exercises in Norway, according to the service.
Four Marines were killed in the March 18 crash, which happened around 6 p.m. local time in stormy weather while flying to a Norwegian Air Force base in the town of Bodo, in the north of the country.
The USMC says US authorities are carrying out the investigation after receiving permission from the prosecutor in Nordland, Norway.
“We mourn the loss of our four Marines who have dedicated their lives to our nation,” USMC Major General Michael Cederholm said in a statement sent to FlightGlobal April 6. “We will do everything in our power to understand what happened on that fateful afternoon.”
Norwegian National Guard personnel are being used to secure the crash site, which was initially identified by a local search and rescue team using an unidentified rescue helicopter and an aircraft. surveillance Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion.
The remains of the four Osprey crew members were successfully removed from the crash site for repatriation to the United States, according to a statement from the II Marine Expeditionary Force.
The USMC identified the four men as follows:
Captain Matthew J Tomkiewicz of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Captain Ross A Reynolds of Leominster, Massachusetts
Gunnery Sergeant James W Speedy of Cambridge, Ohio
Corporal Jacob M Moore of Catlettsburg, Kentucky
The men were assigned to USMC Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, based at Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina.
The Osprey crash happened during the biennial NATO exercise known as Cold Response, held in Norway and planned by the Norwegian Armed Forces. According to NATO, Cold Response is designed to test the ability of partners and member nations to operate in a cold weather environment on land, in the air and at sea.
This year’s exercises involved 30,000 soldiers from 27 countries. The NATO website says the drill had been planned for more than eight months and has no connection to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces.