By Gidge Dady
TEAM Public Affairs, V-22

The commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Jones, fulfilled his promise to the families of the Marines who died in the recent MV-22 crash when he flew June 17 in the first Osprey to carry passengers since the tragic accident on April 8.

The flight occurred at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWC WD), China Lake, Calif., where the low rate initial production MV-22s are being operationally evaluated last month.

The top Marine promised shortly after the accident investigation began that when the Ospreys could start carrying passengers again he would fly in the aircraft to show his commitment to and confidence in the safety of the MV-22.

During a press conference that was held immediately following his flight, Jones said, "My first thoughts as we lifted off today were of the 19 Marines who died in April and their families. Today I am making good on a pledge to be able to tell these families that the accident was not related to any design flaws. I have no doubt or I wouldn’t be here."

He added, "this is a wonderful aircraft and, as of today (June 17), the MV-22 is back in full mode of test and evaluation."

The recent flight involved two MV-22s, the lead aircraft carried 11 passengers, which included Jones and Mrs. Diane Jones, Rear Adm. Bert Johnson, commander of Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, John Murphy, president of Bell Helicopter Textron and Patrick Finneran, Boeing senior vice president for Navy and Marine Corps programs.

Of the 10 passengers on the chase aircraft, half were members of the national and local media.

The flights, which lasted about 30 minutes, started off in the hover mode and then transitioned to airplane mode, climbed to 9,500 feet and reached an airspeed of 235 knots, according to Lt. Col. Keith Sweaney, director for the Multi-Service Operational Test Team (MOTT), who was one of the pilots on the lead aircraft.

"During the flight, there was an the opportunity to get people up to the cockpit for a look. We also had several discussions with the commandant in flight on the aircraft’s performance."

This significant event was a unique opportunity for the passengers, particularly members of the media, to experience first hand, a flight in the world’s first production tiltrotor.

More importantly, however, these flights mark the beginning of the third and final phase of the MV-22’s return to flight plan. In this phase, the MOTT will resume tests in which they will conduct operationally representative missions with passengers on board.

The MV-22 has safely flown more than 40 troop-lift missions and has carried more than 700 troops during operational evaluation (OPEVAL) flights. During this critical testing phase, the aircraft’s operational effectiveness and suitability for fleet use is evaluated.

The MOTT began a six-month OPEVAL in November 1999 and was nearing completion when the accident occurred.

At the direction of Jones, all MV-22 aircraft flight operations were temporarily stopped so investigators could analyze information from an onboard data recorder and provide insight as to the cause of the accident.

After a review by the Naval Air Systems Command, the Naval Safety Center, and the Deputy Commandant for Aviation, which found no structural or design flaws that would affect safe flight operations, Jones lifted the "operational pause."

This allowed the MV-22 engineering, manufacturing and development aircraft, which have been tested at Patuxent River, to resume flight.

In this first phase, that began a month after the crash, developmental test pilots here continued to simulate and analyze possible causes of the accident.

The second phase began May 25 when the low rate initial production aircraft were cleared to resume flight operations with essential aircrew only.

Pilots from the MOTT began this phase with a combination of simulator and familiarization flights in preparation for the return to operational evaluation, which began June 5.

Operational Evaluation is scheduled to wrap up in mid July.

The commandant stressed that a thorough investigation of the April 8 accident continues and the Marine Corps is committed to correcting the cause.