Families Of Victims Of 2017 Crash Of A Transport Plane In Mississippi, Which Killed 16 Military Personnel, Address USMC Investigation Report Released This Week

NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) investigation report released this week, which assigned blame to the U.S. military for systematic maintenance failures as causing the 2017 crash of a transport plane in Mississippi, is gratifying, but does not go far enough in its findings, according to some family members of the 16 military personnel killed and their attorney.

U.S. Marine Corps Major Caine Goyette and Captain Sean Elliot, pilots of the plane, perished in the July 10, 2017, tragic crash of a KC-130T near Itta Bena, MS, along with 14 others, including 13 Marines and one U.S. Navy sailor. "On behalf of the Goyette and Elliot families, we thank the USMC for its efforts to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding the crash," said Justin T. Green, a military-trained pilot, former president of the International Air & Transportation Safety Bar Association and an aviation attorney who represents the pilots' family members. "While these families appreciate the efforts of the USMC investigators and their conclusions, we do not presently accept all of their findings, and take issue with several of their conclusory opinions as to the cause of the crash, the deficient overhaul and maintenance processes, and the parties that were ultimately responsible for those deficiencies which led to a propeller blade failure and in-flight break-up of the aircraft."  Mr. Green is a partner at the aviation law firm Kreindler & Kreindler LLP in New York.

"The pilots' families are deeply gratified that the investigation confirmed what we already knew, that the flight crew could have done nothing to save the aircraft, its passengers or themselves when faced with an instantaneous and catastrophic emergency which rendered the aircraft uncontrollable," Mr. Green said.  "Every effort should be made to make certain that all of the causes for the crash are identified and that all necessary measures are taken to ensure that such an accident never happens again."

According to Mr. Green, although it was determined that there were "multiple contradictions and other errors in . . . the maintenance procedures required for overhauling the USN/USMC KC-130T propeller blade," the report did not determine whether the overhaul manual deficiencies were a cause of the blade failure.  "We are concerned that the overhaul processes would not have identified the problems with the blades, regardless of how faithfully they were followed," said Mr. Green.

"Further, based on information from the blade manufacturer, more than a decade ago, there were several reported events concerning the danger of fractures caused by radial cracking, which is what occurred here. As a result of these reported failures a fatigue crack propagation study was performed in 2003. We believe there remain important unanswered questions concerning the adequacy of that testing and analysis. Clearly, the study did not lead to the development of proper overhaul processes required to discover these potentially dangerous cracks in the propeller blades that were susceptible to fatigue failure," said Mr. Green.

According to Mr. Green, the pilots' families remain concerned that the procedures being developed will not be sufficient to discover all potential fatigue cracking failure modes.  "We recognize that the U.S. Air Force, which ran the facility that overhauled the propeller blades, is doing an investigation that is not yet complete.  We hope, however, that additional and more robust procedures will be developed by the manufacturers of these propeller blades so that no more brave members of our military are injured or lost due to these deficiencies.  Clearly, immediate changes are required."

Mr. Green indicated that the pilots' families express their sympathies to the Marine families of victims of the December 5, 2018, accident off the coast of Japan.

About Kreindler & Kreindler LLP
Kreindler & Kreindler LLP is the nation's leading aviation law firm and has represented the victims of hundreds of military and commercial plane and helicopter crashes and their families. www.kreindler.com  

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