Kill the V22? 12-12-2k

Osprey crashes off Ramsey Road BY ALISON LAURIO DAILY NEWS STAFF

An MV-22 Osprey carrying four crewmembers from New River Air Station crashed Monday night in a wooded area north of Jacksonville. The status of the four Marines, all with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Training Squadron 204, was unknown early Tuesday morning.

“We cannot confirm survivors,” said Gunnery Sgt. Vincent Gaines, of New River Air Station.

The crash occurred in a heavily wooded area of land owned by International Paper Co. roughly two miles east of Gum Branch Road and one mile north of Ramsey Road. Gaines said the crew reported a Mayday at 7:29 p.m. The aircraft went down at that time.

Mark Calnan, who lives near the crash site, was outside his home waiting for some friends to give him a ride when a high-pitched noise caused him to look up and see the craft go down.

“The rotors got real loud, and it disappeared behind a tree,” he said. “There was an orange flash, a great big one. Then I heard a pop. It crackled like thunder. People up and down the road heard it.”

New River officials said the Osprey was on a routine training flight and was returning via instrument when it went down.

Civilian and military authorities responded quickly, but the location of the crash along with the fire and smoke me getting to the site difficult.

“We are not able to confirm loss of life due to the nature of the scene,” said Onslow County Emergency Operations Center Director Doug Bass. “They’re trying to do search and rescue now, trying to make sure there are no survivors. Probably in the morning when it’s light, they’ll be able to go in. The scene is secure and the fire is out.”

Col. Mark Goodman, public affairs chief at New River, said military and civilian personnel were on the scene performing what is standard operating procedure — securing the area, extinguishing fires and looking for survivors.

The site of the crash was so isolated, with no roads, that the North Carolina Department of Forestry was called in with big equipment to make a plow line to make the crash site accessible. However, even the heavy equipment had trouble because the ground was so wet. By 9:30 p.m., they were still an estimated mile away from the crash area, said Lori Brill, public information officer for Onslow County.

Brill said the first rescue crews who went in with breathing apparatus were told to back off for health reasons because of smoke that might be toxic when this type of aircraft burns.

While numerous agencies responded, including the Military Civilian Task Force, Half Moon fire and rescue squads, Richlands rescue, North Carolina Highway Patrol, Onslow County Sheriff’s Department, N.C. Forestry Service and military search and rescue as well as other military units from both the air station and Camp Lejeune, neighbors congregated near the road as a helicopter hovered in the distance with a light pointed down to illuminate the scene in the distance.

A command post was set up by Rhoderick’s Quality Tackle, 942 Ramsey Road, which is located about one mile from the crash scene. People from the usually quiet neighborhood conversed as they watched.

Randy Rhoderick heard the crash but did not see it.

“We were in our home watching the oral arguments before the Supreme Court on TV,” he said. “What I heard was what I thought was a motorcycle or vehicle decelerating out there. Then there was a pop. I thought there was a wreck, so I went outside and saw a plume of smoke coming up out in the woods.”

A Navy corpsmen who saw the crash and stopped, went down into the woods line with the Rhodericks, but the group could not walk through because the trees and brush were so thick. William Rhoderick and the corpsman then got in Rhoderick’s four-wheel drive pickup.

William Rhoderick said they tried to drive to the area to see if they could help.

“We made it to within one-eighth mile,” he said

Lt. Clint Cascaden, public affairs officer at Camp Lejeune, said after a Mayday is given, there are no ejection seats for crewmembers in a craft like the Osprey.

“We do everything possible to avoid something like this,” he said. “Even with careful training, sometimes things happen.”

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Is this program a doughnut without the jam in it or is it just part of the growing pains of being a pioneer? This is the third (or maybe the fourth) crash of a V22. Then again, even the EH-101 was crashed a couple of times. What are the alternatives, the compound helicopter concept a la Fairy Rotordyne?

You can of course, phone a friend.

Kz