Marines order safety review following Osprey crash that killed three in Australia
Mike Brest
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The acting Marine Corps commandant has directed all units to review safety procedures after a deadly MV-22B Osprey crash in Australia this weekend.
Three Marines were killed in the Osprey crash on Melville Island, north of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, on Sunday morning, while 20 others were injured, including three who were hospitalized. The crash remains under investigation.
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Gen. Eric Smith, the acting Commandant and current assistant Commandant, ordered the service-wide review on Tuesday, and it must be completed by Sept. 15.
“Marines, when we have any training mishap, we must conduct a thorough and harsh review of our processes to confirm that our culture of safety is still strong,” he said in the administrative message. “Caring for the families of any Marine lost in a training mishap is our primary concern, and we can never offer them all that they deserve as they deal with the loss of their loved one. I cannot speak for those families, but I believe they may take comfort knowing that every possible measure has been taken to prevent a future mishap.”
United States Marine Corps Corporal Spencer R. Collart, 21; Captain Elanor V. LeBeau, 29; and Major Tobin J. Lewis, 37, were killed in Sunday’s accident.
“I am accountable to all Marine families and United States national leaders for the safety of Marines. In turn, you are each accountable to me for the safe conduct of training and operations,” Smith continued. “We share this mission, and must remain fully committed to it. I am ordering a unit level review of our culture of safety to be completed no later than 15 September 2023.”
The Marines have known that there is a persistent issue with the aircraft’s clutch, though deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters on Tuesday that it was too early to say whether Sunday’s crash was related to the malfunctioning clutch.
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“I think we do certainly have confidence in the Osprey. If anything changes, if these investigations lead to something that would cause us or a service to adjust anything about how we believe the Osprey should be used, we would do that. But at this time, we have confidence in that,” Singh said. “Well, in terms of the incident that happened over this past weekend, again, that’s still under investigation, so I don’t want to jump ahead or jump to any conclusions that haven’t been reached yet.”
“We are focused on what happened in this particular incident and what has happened in previous incidents, but I would steer away from linking them together right now because they’re still being investigated, and until we have a proper conclusion, I don’t want to get ahead of the investigation or ahead of any recommendation that the secretary, or a service might have for the secretary,” she added.