WASHINGTON — The search in the Pacific for seven American service members continued Thursday after a U.S. military special operations V-22 Osprey aircraft crashed.
Japan has now suspended all flights by its Ospreys, and it has asked the U.S. military to ground its Ospreys operating in the region except for those joining the search operations at the crash site.
But the Pentagon said on Thursday that there will be no stand-down, at least, not now.
"There is an investigation. I'm not going to get ahead of that investigation. But when those results are concluded, if there's any additional action that needs to be taken, we will certainly let you know," said Department of Defense deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh.
Dating back to 2007, the tilt-rotor Ospreys have a history of fatal mishaps. An Osprey crashed in northern Australia in August of this year, killing three U.S. Marines. A similar incident in 2017 also killed three Marines.
Los Angeles-based attorney Tim Loranger is a pilot and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and represents some of the families from the 2017 crash.
In an interview with 13News Now, Loranger said a pause for the V-22 could be in order.
"I would hope that they are studying this aircraft, taking it apart, looking at alternative designs to try and make it as safe as possible," he said. "What would be great if they could take a pause for a while, keep everybody safe, figure out the problem, and resolve it to the best that they can."
According to the Project on Government Oversight, over the years, there have been more than a dozen V-22 crashes that have left more than 50 people dead.