New flight rules recommended after Marine's fall from Osprey

[gortje]

New flight rules recommended after Marine's fall from Osprey

MV-22B Ospreys with a North Carolina squadron are spending more flight hours with their entry ramps securely closed after a Marine's fatal tumble from one of the aircraft last year.

The death of Lance Cpl. Steven Hancock, 20, a crew chief with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Training Squadron 204 out of Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, was ruled accidental, according to a command investigation released to Marine Corps Times this week through a Freedom of Information Act request.

But while the investigation found no one from the unit was at fault in the tragedy, it recommended a handful of safety upgrades, including better "gunner's belt" restraints and more cautious use of the rear ramp in the open position.

Hancock, of Joliet, Ill., was killed the night of May 19, when he fell out of an Osprey in flight about 45 miles west of the air station. His body was recovered the next day following an all-night search.

With no witnesses to Hancock's fatal fall, many details about the cause remain unknown. Evidence recovered in the investigation, however, reveals the trauma that may have accompanied his final moments. When Hancock fell out the back of the aircraft, he was still wearing his gunner's belt — a sturdy strap that fastens around a Marine's waist and connects him or her to the interior of the Osprey via a long safety tether, allowing safe movement while in flight.

The clasp of the belt never came undone, the investigation found, but a bent latch and blood stains on the strap showed that Hancock "was wearing the gunner's belt for some time on exiting the aircraft before falling."

What led to Hancock's fall is unclear. He was last seen by a fellow crew chief sitting in one of the designated crew seats, the investigation showed. In a witness statement included in the report, a fellow Marine testified that Hancock was a "by the book" Marine and "not a risk taker of any sort."

The investigating officer suggested that Hancock may have lost his balance while conducting crew duties or may have moved to recover the cord to his communication system when it disconnected and flew out the rear of the aircraft. Another witness told the investigating officer that this was a common occurrence with the systems when they had long cords.

The investigating officer recommended that internal communication systems be developed that did not use long cords. Among the other seven recommendations were a policy to fly with the ramp securely up unless the Osprey was in a landing configuration; new flight vests with internal harnesses more secure than a gunner's belt; and development of an emergency procedure that helps crew chiefs to know what to do if they slip out of the back of an Osprey.

Lt. Col. Brett Hart, VMMT-204 commanding officer, embraced the recommendations.

The squadron would adopt a new policy allowing an open ramp only during landing configurations, Hart wrote in an endorsement of the report. He also said the squadron is pursuing new crewman restraint systems and working to acquire wireless communication systems for Osprey cabin crew members.

Future training flights would pair new crew members with more experienced ones, Hart added. While this was not found to be a factor in Hancock's fall, both he and his fellow crewman were relatively junior and had not flown for 60 days or more prior to the May 19 flight.

"This mishap ... demonstrated that a crew member properly wearing a gunner's belt during cruise flight in an MV-22B faces hazards often unrecognized," Hart wrote. "The MV-22B imparts forces in flight greater than other rotorcraft."

In a statement released by 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, Hart offered his condolences to the Hancock family on behalf of the squadron.

"I can say that his passing has taken a heavy toll on the men and women who came to be his Marine Corps family," he said. "We miss him."

Source: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/m ... /23286409/