‘Do not feel safer’: Melville Island crash 12 months on

A year on from the horrific Melville Island, NT crash that claimed the lives of three American Marines, a US lawyer says some still feel wary of the controversial aircraft.

Three American Marines Captain Eleanor LeBeau, 29, Corporal Spencer Collart, 21, and Major Tobin Lewis, 37, have been remembered as 'heroes' following a fatal Osprey crash in the Northern Territory on Sunday August 27.

One year after the tragic Melville Island Osprey crash that killed three American Marines, it remains “uncertain” whether military members are any safer on the controversial MV-22 Osprey aircraft, a US lawyer says.

Timothy Loranger, a former Marine himself, is a senior partner of Los Angeles law firm Wisner Baum and has been a leading critic of the Osprey’s chequered safety record.

The LA lawyer followed the Melville Island crash closely and, a year on from the shocking accident, said he was unsure if the situation had improved.

“Certainly, a reasonable answer at this point would be that it is uncertain whether our service members are safer than they were 12 months ago,” he told this masthead.

“Some certainly do not feel safer, according to those I’ve heard from.”

LA-based lawyer Timothy Loranger says some US Marines have told him they do not feel safer aboard the aircraft.

When Captain Eleanor LeBeau, Major Tobin Lewis and Corporal Spencer Collart died off the Territory coast on August 27, 2024, a series of events followed which brought the airframe under intense scrutiny.

Having already accrued more than 50 fatalities through training activities alone, the Melville Island crash was followed by another deadly accident in Japan in November, 2023, where another eight Marines were killed.

This forced the Pentagon to issue a global freeze on the airframe to ensure a comprehensive safety review of the aircraft could be undertaken.

The MV-22 Osprey has been under intense scrutiny. Picture: Cpl. Skyler M. Harris.

Ultimately, the ban was lifted and the Osprey deemed airworthy, despite investigations determining the prevalence of hard clutch engagements across various airframes and the 2023 Japan crash involving defects in the gearbox.

By lifting the ban, Mr Loranger said Marines faced further danger in the skies.

“The US Government continues to operate the V-22 Osprey – allegedly in a limited way – which means that our service members must deal with uncertainty and additional risk, so they have not taken the aircraft out of service.”

While manufacturer Bell-Boeing are redesigning the Osprey’s dubious clutch assembly, a large number of American families have doubled down on their legal campaign to hold companies and authorities to account.

Australian soldiers on the banks of Melville Island following the fatal US Marine Osprey aircraft crash On August 27, 2023. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Loranger said the journey was uncomfortable for families.

“Involvement in litigation is stressful and the outcome is always uncertain,” he said.

“However, they are committed to honouring the memory of their fallen Marines and Airmen and fight for transparency and solutions.”

As for what the families aimed to achieve, Mr Loranger said most families wanted service members to fly a “reasonably safe” aircraft.

“All of the families worry about those who are still operating these aircraft and they are hopeful that their efforts will result in an aircraft that is reasonably safe and free of known defects.”

Marine Rotation Force – Darwin confirmed it would commemorate the crash by holding a private memorial service on Melville Island in September.

The service, closed to media, has been organised in co-ordination with the Tiwi Land Council.

Originally published as ‘Do not feel safer’: Melville Island crash 12 months on