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Anonymous ID: 3c9f4b April 12, 2020, 9:01 a.m. No.8769279   🗄️.is 🔗kun

10 Apr 2020

Military.com | By Matthew Cox

The families of four U.S. Marines who died in a 2018 CH-53E Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopter accident have filed a lawsuit March 31 alleging that two companies were responsible for the faulty aircraft component that caused the fatal crash.

The Marines killed in the April 3, 2018, crash were Capt. Samuel A. Schultz; 1st Lt. Samuel D. Philips; Gunnery Sgt. Richard D. Holley; and Lance Cpl. Taylor J. Conrad. All were assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465 out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California.

The huge helicopter took off from the Strategic Expeditionary Landing Field at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, California, to conduct squadron training, consisting of aircraft landings in "unimproved zones," before it crashed and "burst into flames" near the U.S.-Mexico border just outside of El Centro, according to the lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania State Court.

The lawsuit against Kampi Components Co. Inc. of Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, and Diamond Rubber Products Co. of Birmingham, Alabama, alleges that the companies were responsible for manufacturing and supplying a defective valve part that triggered the tragic accident.

The failed component, known as a bypass valve button, was made from ethylene propylene di monomer (EPDM), a rubber material that is incompatible with hydraulic fluid, the lawsuit alleges.

"The failure of this component part caused what is known as a 'hydraulic lock' condition, resulting in a loss of flight control of the subject helicopter," the lawsuit states. "When this condition occurs, the pilots can do nothing to bring the subject helicopter back under control and are blameless in this crash."

Post-crash investigation and analysis further revealed that, following the discovery of the non-conforming EPDM part, "all batches of the non-conforming buttons were analyzed in an attempt to find the non-compliant supplier and/or manufacturer and through those efforts the source of the non-compliant 'button' was identified as being sold and supplied by Defendant KAMPI and manufactured of Defendant DIAMOND," the lawsuit alleges, referring to Kampi Components and Diamond Rubber Products.

Attorney David Casey Jr., who is representing the families in the lawsuit, said in a recent news release, "There was nothing the pilots could have done to prevent this deadly accident."

 

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/04/10/faulty-helicopter-part-caused-deaths-four-marines-new-lawsuit-claims.html