US Navy grounds aircraft pending one-day safety review

After a series of crashes affecting both US Navy and Marine aircraft, all non-deployed naval aviation units were grounded for one day on June 13, 2022 to conduct a safety review.  

On June 3, 2022, a US Navy McDonnell Douglas F/A-18E Super Hornet crashed near Trona, California, killing its pilot. 

On June 8, 2022, a US Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft crashed in the Southern California desert, killing its crew of five Marines. 

The next day, a US Navy MH-60S Seahawk helicopter crashed near El Centro, California. All four on board survived the crash. 

Consequently, the US Naval Air Forces ordered a safety pause of one day for all non-deployed Navy aviation units to “review risk-management practices and conduct training on threat and error-management processes”. 

“In order to maintain the readiness of our force, we must ensure the safety of our people remains one of our top priorities,” said the US Naval Air Forces commander in a statement. Deployed units are expected to conduct the safety pause whenever possible. 

The last similar stand-down was ordered on October 26, 2021, after two crashes took place in less than a week. The first incident involved a Super Hornet and the second saw a Beechcraft T-6B Texan II trainer crash just three days later. The latter resulted in the death of an instructor and a student.