Navy orders ‘safety pause’ after string of deadly crashes

The U.S. Navy will start a “safety pause” on Monday for non-deployed aircraft following two crashes in Southern California this month that caused the deaths of a pilot and five Marines, officials announced.

“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,” the Navy said Saturday 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,” it continued. “Deployed units will conduct the safety pause at the earliest possible opportunity.”

The announcements came after a spate of military aircraft crashes.

On June 3 Navy Lt. Richard Bullock died during a training mission in Trona, California.

On Wednesday, five Marines were killed when a Marine MV-22B Osprey crashed in a Southern California desert about 150 miles west of San Diego.

More than 40 people have died flying on Ospreys since 1991, according to the Washington Post.

On Friday, the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing identified the dead Marines as Corporal Nathan Carlson, 21, of Winnebago, Illinois; Captain Nicholas Losapio, 31, of Rockingham, New Hampshire; Cpl. Seth Rasmuson, 21, of Johnson, Wyoming; Capt. John Sax, of Placer, California; and Lance Cpl. Evan Strickland, 19, of Valencia, New Mexico.

And on Thursday, a military aircraft crashed less than 100 miles from Wednesday’s crash. All service members on the Navy helicopter that went down in the crash survived.