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Navy, Marines to 'pause' non-deployed flight operations Monday after spate of crashes

San Diego Union-Tribune - 6/12/2022

Navy and Marine Corps aviation units will pause flight operations Monday to review practices and conduct training after a series of crashes involving aircraft from both branches in Southern California over the last 10 days, the Navy said in a statement Saturday.

Six service members — a Navy F/A-18E Superhornet pilot and the 5-Marine crew of an MV-22B Osprey — died in two Southern California crashes within a week. A third aircraft, a San Diego-based MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter, crashed Thursday. All four sailors on board survived, the Navy said.

The "safety pause" was directed by the San Diego-based commander of Naval Air Forces, Vice Adm. Kenneth Whitesell.

"As a result of recent crashes involving U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, Commander, Naval Air Forces has directed all non-deployed Navy aviation units to conduct a safety pause on June 13 in order to review risk-management practices and conduct training on threat and error-management processes," Naval Air Forces said in a statement. "In order to maintain the readiness of our force, we must ensure the safety of our people remains one of our top priorities."

Monday's pause applies to non-deployed units. Those units deployed, the Navy said, will conduct a safety pause at the "earliest possible opportunity."

June has been a deadly month in military aviation. On June 3, Navy Lt. Richard Bullock died when his F/A-18E Superhornet crashed in northwestern San Bernardino County. Bullock was based at Naval Air Station Lemoore.

On Wednesday, five Camp Pendleton-based Marines died when their MV-22B Osprey crashed near Glamis in Imperial county. They were Capt. John J. Sax, 33; Capt. Nicholas P. Losapio, 31; Cpl. Nathan E. Carlson, 21; Cpl. Seth D. Rasmuson, 21; and Lance Cpl. Evan A. Strickland, 19.

On Thursday, a San Diego-based MH-60S Sea Hawk crashed just 40 miles from where the Osprey went down the day before. The four sailors on board survived.

In March another Marine Osprey — this one based in North Carolina — crashed during a NATO exercise in Norway, killing four Marines aboard.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.

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