Biden seeks an additional $1.5 billion for Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire victims - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
President Joe Biden’s last-ditch effort to adequately fund the country’s natural disaster response includes an additional $1.5 billion for victims of New Mexico’s largest-ever wildfire, according to a letter his office released Monday.
If Congress approves his request, that would bring the total compensation awarded to $5.45 billion, which is more than half the state budget of New Mexico. Congress in late 2022 previously awarded $3.95 billion in two separate bills.
The extra money is “essential to fully meet the claims that are eligible for compensation,” said U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) in a statement Monday afternoon.
The deadline to apply for compensation for the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire is Dec. 20.
The Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire began in the spring of 2022 after the United States Forest Service ignited two prescribed burns under unfavorable conditions that escaped and merged to become the biggest fire in state history. The blaze caused billions of dollars in damage, destroyed several hundred homes and burned through an area the size of Los Angeles.
Along with the compensation money, Congress in 2022 passed the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act, which tasks the Federal Emergency Management Agency with setting up a claims office to fully compensate victims of the fire.
As of Oct. 18, the claims office had paid out $1.5 billion of the fund, including payments for burned homes, lost business revenue and reforestation. Those who suffered losses in the fire have until Dec. 20 to apply.
The additional $1.5 billion Biden is requesting would come from a proposed $40 billion funding boost to FEMA’s Disaster Recovery Fund, according to Biden’s request letter. That’s the fund that pays for immediate assistance for all types of disasters, including wildfires and floods, for individuals and local governments.
Biden’s request, which totals about $100 billion, comes in the waning days of his presidency, before Democrats in the Senate and the White House cede control to Republicans early next year.
It’s likely lawmakers and staff will release an emergency spending bill in early December when both chambers return for a three-week session after the Thanksgiving holiday.
“It is absolutely critical that these communities know that their government has not forgotten them,” White House budget director Shalanda Young said Monday in a briefing with reporters.
Leger Fernandez and U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, also a Democrat, championed the compensation bill and issued statements calling on Congress to keep the additional funding and for FEMA to pay it out quickly.
Lujan spokesperson Adan Serna told Source New Mexico the delegation successfully convinced the White House the additional money was needed, especially given the uncertainty of the next Congress.
“This is one of the last few bills that is likely to pass before the end of the year, and obviously we’re going to be in the minority, and so we’re just being proactive with this extra funding request,” Serna said. “And President Biden and his team listened.”
The additional money wasn’t sought for a particular type of compensation or because lawmakers felt there was a single area of loss that wasn’t being compensated, Serna said. Instead, it was to make sure the office had sufficient funding ahead of an uncertain future.
“The pitch was really to make sure that we do not end up where the money has run out and all of the victims have not been paid out,” Serna said.
The request for additional funding comes about a month after a federal judge hinted he would likely side with fire victims in a lawsuit against FEMA for its decision not to pay compensation claims for so-called “noneconomic” damages, which are similar to pain and suffering payments in a civil lawsuit.
If the judge rules as he suggested he would, victims’ lawyers estimate that noneconomic losses could amount to about $400 million on top of billions in economic losses suffered in the fire. Members of the delegation have previously criticized the office in the past for delays in issuing payments.
Leger Fernandez, in her statement, said in addition to Congress awarding the additional funds, “we must hold FEMA and the HPCC Claims Office accountable for making their process faster and more responsive, ensuring all New Mexico families whose lives have been upended by this disaster make a full recovery.”
EXTENSION STILL PENDING
Lujan and Leger Fernandez are also seeking to further extend the application deadline, which was already extended a month from mid-November to Dec. 20. An extension would have to occur in a separate act of Congress, Serna said.
Lujan is exploring different packages of legislation where an extension would be included, Serna said. Serna said he hopes that the “incredibly collegial” Senate, where Lujan has many relationships across the aisle, would not block a vote to extend the deadline for partisan reasons.
Still, he said, there are no guarantees that the deadline extension will pass.
“Our message really is that people need to apply, like, today,” he said.
Multiple election offices report receiving mailed ballots misdirected from other states - By Christina A. Cassidy, John Hanna And Amy Beth Hanson, Associated Press
Terry Thompson had an election to run for voters in Cascade County, Montana. Why then, she thought, was her office in Great Falls being sent mailed ballots completed by voters in places such as Wasilla, Alaska, Vancouver, Washington, and Tampa, Florida?
It was only about a dozen ballots total from voters in other states. But she said it still raised concerns about the ability of the U.S. Postal Service to deliver election mail and whether the errant ballots would ever be counted.
"I mean, I would have had to been doing FedEx overnight envelopes to all these states to try to get them where they needed to go," said Thompson, the county's election administrator.
She received about a half dozen others that should have gone to county election offices in other parts of Montana. For those, she said she "just had to hope and pray" they made it back on time.
While a stray ballot ending up in the wrong place can happen during election season, the number of ballots destined for other states and counties that ended up at Thompson's office is unusual. The Associated Press found it wasn't an anomaly. Election offices in California, Louisiana, New Mexico and elsewhere also reported receiving completed ballots in the mail that should have gone to other states.
To some election officials, it confirms concerns they raised before the Nov. 5 presidential election about the U.S. Postal Service's performance and ability to handle a crush of mail ballots, as early voting has become increasingly popular with voters.
State election officials warned in September that problems with the nation's mail delivery system threatened to disenfranchise voters in the upcoming presidential election. In a letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the election officials noted problems during the primaries that included mailed ballots postmarked on time but received too late be counted and instances of properly addressed election mail returned as undeliverable.
In Louisiana, state election officials said some 40 to 50 ballots destined for 10 other states ended up being delivered to local election offices, mostly in Orleans Parish. Deputy Secretary of State Joel Watson Jr. said the Secretary of State's Office had "extraordinary frustration" for the Postal Service's continued "inconsistencies" and "lack of accountability."
Dozens of mail ballots from inside the state also were delivered to the wrong local election office, Watson said.
"There were many instances where our staff had to physically take these ballots and drive them to another parish to get them there on time to make sure those votes count," Watson said. "We had to use time and resources in the hours and days immediately preceding the biggest election we hold to make sure these ballots were delivered to the right places."
Louisiana law does not permit ballot drop boxes, and Watson indicated his office does not support moving in that direction and would continue to encourage voters to cast their ballots in person. He cited security concerns such as the arson attacks on drop boxes in Washington and Oregon ahead of the Nov. 5 election in which ballots were damaged.
The U.S. Postal Service said in a statement that it had been working closely with local election officials to resolve concerns, but did not address specific questions regarding the misdirected ballots.
"The United States Postal Service is fully committed to fulfilling our role in the electoral process when policy makers choose to utilize us as a part of their election system, and to delivering election mail in a timely manner," Rod Spurgeon, a USPS spokesman, said in an email.
Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, said ballot monitors identified some problems inside facilities during the election season but said they were resolved.
"While we are waiting on the final statistics from the Postal Service, all indications show that vote-by-mail was a success in the 2024 general election," he said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
Still, state and local election officials reported numerous cases of ballots ending up in the wrong place.
In New Mexico's Santa Fe County, County Clerk Katharine Clark said seven ballots bound for her office were instead delivered to Los Angeles County in Southern California. Those ballots were redirected, Clark said, but did not arrive at her office before the state's deadline to be counted, which is 7 p.m. on Election Day.
"It does mean that person got denied the right to vote, because the ballots from Los Angeles County -- even though they were sent (to Santa Fe) with a four- or five-day lead time -- they didn't get to us in time to count," she said.
In addition, Clark said her office received two ballots destined for Los Angeles County and one for Maricopa County in Arizona that she sent back to the U.S. Postal Service. Nine ballots should have been delivered to other counties within New Mexico.
In addition to the Santa Fe County ballots, Los Angeles County election officials said they also received two ballots that should have been mailed to Torrance County, New Mexico. That county's clerk, Linda Jaramillo, said she did not recall receiving the ballots from Los Angeles County but expressed faith in the nation's mail service.
"There's going to be a few," Jaramillo said. "You can't have perfection."
The California Secretary of State's office said about 150 mail ballots from Oregon voters were misdirected to California before being sent back. Officials at the state election office in Springfield, Illinois, somehow ended up with a ballot intended for Massachusetts.
"Yeah, I have no idea how that happens," said Matt Dietrich, spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Amy Cohen, executive director of the National Association of State Election Directors, called the incidents "disappointing and heartbreaking."
"Election officials don't ever want to see misdelivered ballots, but it does happen for variety of reasons, not all of which are USPS's fault," Cohen said, noting that voters can sometimes forget to use the outer envelope that contains important address information.
But Cohen said the examples from this past presidential election seem to reflect the issues that election officials had been worried about since 2023 and were highlighted in their September letter to U.S. Postal Service leadership.
"We hope they will get to the bottom of what went wrong to prevent it from happening again in the future and that they will be responsive to the issues escalated by the election community," Cohen said.
In Kansas, Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican, was so frustrated after the August primary with hundreds of mail ballots arriving after the deadline for counting them that he posted on social media, "The Pony Express is more efficient at this point." Schwab, unlike other Republicans, has touted the use of drop boxes.
There were no reports of ballots misdirected from or to other states, but Schwab said in a statement this week: "I still encourage voters to not use the USPS to mail their ballot unless there is no other option."
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Cassidy reported from Atlanta and Hanna from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press writers Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California; Jack Brook in New Orleans; Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and others contributed to this report.
New Mexico’s behavioral health system still lacking despite more providers and money — Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News
New Mexico has seen worsening outcomes in behavioral health despite more funding and providers making their way into the system.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the state has fallen in rankings in a few essential areas, including dropping from 36th in the country in 2023 to 44th this year in overall mental illness prevalence in both adults and children.
In that same time period the Land of Enchantment dropped from 32nd to 49th for adults with substance use disorder, and from 47th to 51st, including Washington D.C., in youth substance use disorders.
That’s despite the fact that the state has invested heavily in behavioral health programs in an attempt to reduce wait times and fill gaps, and reports from managed care organizations, like Presbyterian, that they have increased key staff positions like nurse practitioners and social workers.
Moreover, the federal government has been funneling money directly to local providers, nonprofits, universities, and tribal entities.
A state analyst told lawmakers on Monday part of the problem is that agencies aren’t coordinating well and that, “There is little planning to strategically use the resources that we have more effectively.”
Lawmakers say the state’s Behavioral Health Collaborative could possibly provide that overarching guidance, but it has not met at the state level in over a year because it currently does not have a director.
City Council asks administration to stop sidestepping questions - By Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
An Albuquerque city councilor’s proposal to require more accountability from Mayor Tim Keller’s administration passed nearly unanimously, but with changes that significantly lessened its impact.
During Monday’s City Council meeting, councilors passed a proposal 7-2 requiring Keller’s administration to answer councilors’ questions in writing as part of the administration question-and-answer period at council meetings.
Keller could veto the bill, sponsored by Councilor Louie Sanchez, but the council can override the veto with six votes.
“This is something that needs to go through and something that needs to start holding the administration accountable to getting us — as councilors and the public — the answers to questions that we have,” Sanchez said. “It’s about making sure that we do the right thing for the public, for people that actually pay our bills and pay for our services.”
The proposal initially aimed to require every question to be answered with a written response and sent to the council within 10 business days of the meeting. The questions and answers would then be shared on the council’s website.
During Monday’s meeting, Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn proposed multiple changes to the bill.
Fiebelkorn suggested the administration be required to submit written responses within seven business days of the meeting and respond in writing only when they can’t answer the question in person.
“I feel like we have a situation where we ask questions, and if they answer them, it is on the record…having the administrative staff spend time rewriting answers that they’ve already provided us does not seem like a good use of administration time,” Fiebelkorn said. “I am saying that they should provide in writing any questions that they were not able to answer on the dais.”
Fiebelkorn also proposed that written responses only be required when a councilor asks a question expecting a factual or informational answer, not when a councilor asks a question “that has only a subjective, philosophical or given basic answer.”
Council President Dan Lewis said he understood the bill but found it a “little embarrassing” because discussions between the council and administration are part of a public discussion.
“I think there needs to be an immediate response to it,” Lewis said. “Then, if the administration needs a little bit longer, I think there’s some trust here that that will take a little bit longer to do that. And a non-answer is an answer in my opinion. I don’t think it’s necessary to put all this in writing or to do this bill.”
Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel told the council her goal is to ensure councilors get thorough, factual responses in a timely manner and when councilors submit questions before the meeting, the administration is “typically always prepared to answer those questions.”
“I think this is an unfortunate move…I think the working relationship that we have had recently, in terms of assuring we’re finding responses, is a better way for us to work together,” Sengel said.
Councilors approved Fiebelkorn’s proposed changes before passing the bill.
City Council approves new social media policy in response to posts from APD spokesperson - By Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
Albuquerque city councilors approved a new social media policy for city employees Monday night after they called out the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) multiple times for controversial social media posts.
The proposal for the new policy, sponsored by Councilor Renée Grout, passed on an 8-1 vote.
Councilor Louie Sanchez, a frequent critic of APD and Police Chief Harold Medina, offered his support for the bill while taking a jab at APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos, who the city told other news outlets made the posts in question.
“I’m going to support it, but we already know this is the Gilbert Gallegos bill,” Sanchez said. “He’s attacked the victims of family members on X, attorneys, citizens and business owners…there should have been progressive discipline, and we shouldn’t even be dealing with this right now.”
Sanchez argued the bill shows how the administration has failed to address Gallegos’ behavior and that Medina and Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel allowed it to “go on and on.”
“I think we need to be a little stronger and do what’s right for the citizens of Albuquerque, and if that means getting together and getting rid of the police chief, then we need to do that,” Sanchez said.
Sengel countered saying the city’s existing social media policy already addresses professionalism, but that she could not discuss publicly any personnel disciplinary actions or conversations.
“The assumption by this council that there has been nothing done related to the matters that have been discussed is presumptuous, based upon the fact that it would not be discussed with City Council, based upon an employee’s rights to that process being appropriate,” Sengel said.
Sanchez brought up the last time Gallegos’ social media posts caught the council’s attention: when former Council President Pat Davis* threatened to defund the director of communications position as a way to curb inappropriate posts.
Councilor Nichole Rogers asked the council staff if councilors had the authority to defund the position. An attorney for the council said councilors could propose a bill to defund the position, but it would not remove the position because it “is an executive function.” Rogers said she would “love to work with our staff to do that.”
After the City Council blasted APD several weeks ago, for the second time in as many years, over the posts — which were responses made to private citizens — Grout introduced the proposal for the new policy.
Keller could veto Grout’s proposal but the council can override the veto with six votes.
The policy outlines guidelines for defining what posts are appropriate and inappropriate for city social media accounts, potential consequences for misusing accounts and a plan to regularly monitor accounts to ensure they follow the policies.
“Whether or not we think that snapping back at a constituent, a tax-paying citizen, is okay — it’s not,” Grout said. “There’s always a way you can respond and it does not need to be ugly.”
New storage agreement may help keep the Rio Grande flowing in Albuquerque next summer - Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report
A new agreement allows the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District to store water in Abiquiu Reservoir for up to 10 years as work continues on El Vado Dam.
One reason that the Rio Grande in the Albuquerque area has experienced drying trends over the past couple of years is that the MRGCD has not been able to store water in El Vado Reservoir that could then be released during the summer.
In 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation lowered the water levels in El Vado to allow crews to perform necessary safety upgrades and improvements. That construction came to a halt in March and assessments of the structure revealed that steel faceplate and underlying supports in the dam are in much worse condition than previously believed. That meant the existing contract for the construction had to be terminated and the Bureau of Reclamation needed to perform a new evaluation. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, it will be at least three years before work can resume.
That left the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District in a bind.
The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority has the rights to store water in Abiquiu Reservoir and, on Monday, the Bureau of Reclamation announced that an agreement was reached that allows the MRGCD and a coalition of six Rio Grande Pueblos to store up to 100,000 acre-feet of water.
“The agreement represents a win for all users,” Eric C. Olivas, chair of the ABCWUA’s governing board, said in a press release. “It helps the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and our customers by requiring strategic releases of stored Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District water to maintain flows at the central stream gage above 200 cubic feet per second, allowing us to continue surface water diversions instead of tapping groundwater reserves.”
The agreement is only a temporary solution, though, and the Bureau of Reclamation must still move forward with repairing El Vado Dam. In the meantime, storing water in Abiquiu Reservoir provides the MRGCD with additional flexibility in how it manages water.
The Bureau of Reclamation plans to do what is known as a first fill test over the coming months. This will be done to evaluate how El Vado Dam performs when water is added to the reservoir. The Bureau of Reclamation will incrementally raise the water in the reservoir and will assess the dam’s stability and performance at various water depths.
Depending on the results of the first fill test, the MRGCD may be able to store some amount of water in El Vado during the safety upgrades. The test will also help the Bureau of Reclamation develop and implement a long-term solution for storing Rio Grande water.
The water used for the test comes from the ABCWUA, the city of Santa Fe and the MRGCD.
“Thanks to the flexibility of our partners, we can continue our evaluation and repairs of El Vado Dam while ensuring the safe storage of water for Middle Rio Grande irrigators, water users, and for Rio Grande Compact purposes. These strong, cooperative partnerships help us use every drop of water for multiple benefits,” Reclamation Albuquerque Area Manager Jennifer Faler said in a press release.
ABQ water lines lead-free - Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ
New federal regulations require the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority to search its network for lead in water pipes leading into homes and businesses.
So far, so good.
The water utility authority’s ongoing inventory of water lines hasn’t found any lead lines in Albuquerque as of Monday, Spokesperson David Morris said..
The agency is in the process of examining all the lines in the community. The water utility authority is responsible for pipes running between the water main in the street and the water meter — any pipes beyond the meter are the property owner’s responsibility.
Authority personnel are researching historical records and conducting field investigations to collect information about each service line.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to lead – even at the lowest levels – is connected to lower IQ, hyperactivity, slowed growth, anemia and other health problems.
In a letter to customers, the agency said a door hanger will be presented at any address where lead is discovered in the pipes and any needed follow-ups will be scheduled. The letter will include information on how to get free water quality testing and when the service line to the meter will be replaced.
The water utility authority has also created an interactive map showing the line materials at the addresses that have already been surveyed. The page also contains a link customers may use to add information they may have due to recent reconstruction or repairs.
Anyone with questions specific to service lines or wishing to request a water quality test may contact the water utility authority at 505-842-9287, or send an email to lead@abcwua.org.
The Osprey's safety issues spiked over five years and caused deaths. Pilots still want to fly it - By Tara Copp, Kevin Vineys and Aaron Kessler, Associated Press
Over a New Mexico training range named the Hornet, two Osprey aircraft speed 100 feet off the ground, banking hard over valleys and hills as they close in on a dusty landing zone.
A flight engineer in the back braces a .50-caliber machine gun over the edge of the Osprey's open ramp as desert shrubbery blurs past. The aircraft's joints shift and rattle, and there is little steady to hold on to until the Osprey touches down with a bump, flooding seats with rust-colored dust.
After being grounded for months following a crash last November that killed eight U.S. service members in Japan, the V-22 Osprey is back in the air. But there are still questions as to whether it should be.
The Pentagon bought the V-22 Osprey more than 30 years ago as a lethal hybrid, with the speed of an airplane and the maneuverability of a helicopter. Since then, 64 personnel have been killed and 93 injured in more than 21 major accidents.
Japan's military briefly grounded its fleet again late last month after an Osprey tilted violently during takeoff and struck the ground. And four recent fatal crashes brought the program the closest it's come to being shut down by Congress.
To assess its safety, The Associated Press reviewed thousands of pages of accident reports and flight data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, interviewed more than 50 current and former program officials, crew members and experts, and flew both simulator and real training flights.
The AP found that the top three most serious types of incidents rose 46% between 2019 and 2023, while overall safety issues jumped 18% in the same period before the fleet was grounded.
Yet current and former Osprey pilots — even those who have lost friends in accidents or been in crashes themselves — are some of the aircraft's greatest defenders.
Ospreys have been deployed worldwide — landing in deserts and on ship decks, rescuing U.S. service members from ballistic missiles in Iraq, evacuating civilians in Niger and even standing by ready to protect the president during a surprise trip to Ukraine last year.
"There's no other platform out there that can do what the V-22 can do," said former Osprey pilot Brian Luce, who has survived two crashes. "When everything is going well, it is amazing. But when it's not, it's unforgiving."
Unlike other aircraft, the Osprey's problems have not leveled off as the years passed, instead they spiked — even as the number of hours flown have dropped. Many of those incidents can be directly tied to the aircraft's design, experts said.
Parts are wearing out faster than planned, and it's so complex that a minor mistake by a pilot can turn deadly.
While some aspects of the Osprey are now getting modified to make it more reliable, it's unlikely the Osprey's core design will change. With about 400 aircraft that cost between $75 million and $90 million apiece, a major upgrade to the fleet could cost billions.
ONE PILOT SURVIVES TWO CRASHES
In 2010, Luce was the co-pilot in an Osprey crash in Afghanistan that killed his aircraft commander, flight engineer, an Army Ranger and a translator.
There was no enemy fire. In the final seconds of flight, as the Osprey converted to land like a helicopter, it dropped at a rate of more than 1,800 feet per minute. The crash investigation was inconclusive but found possible crew errors and said the engines may have lost power from sucking in too much dust.
Two years later, Luce was the aircraft commander overseeing a co-pilot on a Florida training range. Luce's aircraft was flying low to the ground and about 750 feet behind the lead Osprey — three times the safe minimum distance required.
Despite being football fields apart, when both Ospreys banked, their change in position put one of Luce's rotor blades inside the 25-foot vertical separation they needed. It crossed into the wake of the lead aircraft — a turbulent and unpredictable wash of air so strong that crews nicknamed it "Superman's cape."
In seconds, Luce's Osprey nearly inverted and began dropping at more than 2,800 feet per minute before crashing and catching fire.
All five crew members survived. As the most seriously injured were airlifted out, Luce called his wife at the time, his voice shaking.
"It happened again," he said.
She did not have to ask what he meant.
Both the 2010 and 2012 crashes exposed issues with the Osprey that the military still faces today.
After Luce's 2012 crash, Osprey pilots warned investigators that the program was in trouble, according to investigation interviews obtained by the AP. Pilots couldn't get enough training hours. Ground maintenance crews couldn't keep enough aircraft flying due to a shortage of parts.
To meet cost and schedule targets, the Pentagon's Osprey program office allowed manufacturers Bell Flight and Boeing to turn the Osprey over to the military without fully identifying all the ways the aircraft could run into trouble, a 2001 Government Accountability Office report found.
So even by Luce's 2012 crash, the military still didn't know the full size of the Osprey's wake, crash investigators found.
"The fact that they fell out of the sky just defies logic," Luce's commander Lt. Col. Matt Glover told crash investigators in documents reviewed by the AP.
"I wish I could say there's not going to be a next one, but where we are right now, is it 'if' or 'when,'" said a second pilot, who was flying the Osprey in front of Luce's and whose name is redacted.
The Osprey's safety record has been challenged in multiple congressional hearings over the years. But each time, it has returned to flight. Some members of Congress have said there is no more margin for error.
"If another Osprey goes down, we're done. This program's done," Rep. Stephen Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat, told Osprey program officials during a hearing this spring.
THE DESIGN OF THE OSPREY IS A BIG CHALLENGE
In the 1980s, when the $56 billion V-22 program was in its early stages for Bell Flight and Boeing, the Marine Corps controlled the Osprey's final design because it committed to buying the most. The Marines wanted an aircraft that could carry at least 24 troops, but only take the same small space on a ship deck as the CH-46 helicopter, which the Osprey was replacing.
Experts say design choices have affected the Osprey's safety since:
— The Osprey's proprotors, which work as propellers while flying like an airplane and as rotor blades when functioning as a helicopter, are too small in diameter for the aircraft's weight, which can top out at 60,500 pounds.
— The Osprey's entire engine, transmission and proprotors rotate to a vertical position when it flies like a helicopter, which compromises the engines.
— That vertical rotation is at the core of what makes the Osprey complex. Crews must watch numerous factors: speed, the angles of the engine and rotor blades, and the up or down position of the aircraft's nose, related to the Osprey's weight and center of gravity to keep it from crashing.
The Osprey is twice as heavy as the CH-46, so the rotor blades needed to be longer but couldn't be because they would have hit the body of the aircraft or the tower on the ship deck. Instead, the Osprey's engines had to be more powerful to help the shorter blades generate enough lift.
That creates fast, violent airflow through the rotor blades, which can quickly destabilize the Osprey if one engine has more power than the other.
More powerful engines also meant they would weigh more. So engineers designed them to rotate and used their exhaust thrust to help lift the Osprey off the ground.
"It's an aircraft with a huge amount of performance packed into a very compact space. What that means is that it's a real hot rod to fly," said Richard Brown, a rotorcraft specialist at Sophrodyne Aerospace. "But it also has these foibles which are baked into the design."
OSPREY CRASHES GO BACK DECADES
Problems with the vertical engine caused the aircraft's first fatal accident in 1992. Oils that had pooled while the Osprey was flying like an airplane spilled down into the engine as it rotated to a vertical helicopter position, catching fire and killing seven crew.
In December 2000, repeated transitions to helicopter mode — where the engine and rotor blades rotate upward like an elbow joint — wore down one of the hydraulic lines in an Osprey to the point that it ruptured in flight, killing four Marines. That led to a grounding and system redesign.
Dusty landings present added danger. When the Osprey hovers in helicopter mode, the air and exhaust it creates can kick up a wall of dust and debris that can get sucked back into the engines, clogging and degrading them.
In 2015, a Marine Corps Osprey hovering for 45 seconds in Hawaii disturbed so much sand and dust the crew had to abort and try again to land, because they could no longer see. On their second attempt, the Osprey's left engine stalled and the aircraft dropped flat, killing two Marines.
"I heard what sounded like the entire aircrew yelling 'power, power, power,'" a surviving Marine told investigators, according to redacted interviews obtained by the AP. "The ceiling opened like a sardine can."
After the accident, the Marine Corps put out new guidelines reducing the amount of time the aircraft could hover in dusty environments.
But two years later, dust was a factor again. Pilots of a Marine Corps Osprey that had been dropping off troops in landing zones in Australia all day were concerned enough about the aircraft's weight and potential accumulated dust in the engines that they wanted troops to pour out their water jugs to cut weight.
On their final flight, as the Osprey neared the deck of the transport ship USS Green Bay, it dropped. Airflow generated by the Osprey had reflected off the ship deck and backed up through the rotors.
The pilots applied full throttle but the engines could not produce enough power to compensate for the loss. The Osprey kept falling, clipped the side of the ship and fell into the ocean, killing three.
"It just felt like there was nothing you could do," the lead pilot told investigators. "I don't recall seeing anything with the gauges at this point. I just remember being very frightened."
The Osprey's manufacturers, Bell Flight and Boeing, both referred questions about whether design changes could be made to either the rotors or engine orientation to the Pentagon.
In a statement to the AP, Bell said it took the heavier loads into account in its aircraft.
"While the capabilities of the Osprey have evolved over the years, the envelope of the aircraft based on configuration to support the varied missions has actually not adjusted significantly and was anticipated by the original design," Bell said.
THE AGING AIRCRAFT IS WEARING DOWN
The Osprey's design strains critical components inside, especially in helicopter mode — and those parts are wearing out faster than expected.
When the Osprey is flying like a helicopter, everything has to work harder, because the engines and rotors are supporting the full weight of the aircraft. In airplane mode, the rotors only have to overcome the aircraft's drag, said Brown, the rotorcraft expert.
Air Force crews fly the heaviest Osprey variant because of all the special instruments needed to allow it to fly secret missions, such as conducting rescues or inserting special operations forces in hostile territory.
In helicopter mode, they have to use an option called "interim power" to land safely, said Glover, the former Osprey squadron commander. The option surges more power, but that also can overtax the gears in the Osprey's transmission, known as the proprotor gearbox.
"Bell-Boeing and the Marines had said: 'Hey, you're not supposed to use that thing very often. We don't recommend it.' Well, the Air Force, we've got to use it because we are heavy," Glover said. "If you don't use it, you won't have the power to land."
Japan's defense ministry blamed human error for its most recent accident, where the Osprey tilted and struck the ground, because the pilots did not engage the interim power option as they hovered like a helicopter during takeoff. The ministry announced last week that its Ospreys had been cleared to return to flight.
The strain from helicopter mode shows in the Osprey's transmission. A total of 609 have had to be replaced in the past 10 years, according to data obtained by the AP.
Wear and tear also puts a large demand on ground maintenance crews, who closely track components in the aircraft's drive system to monitor strain. After each flight, they examine the Osprey's engines, transmission and hydraulic lines for signs of stress.
On the hydraulic lines, "if one of those comes loose, it's a problem," said Master Sgt. Frank Williams, an Osprey maintenance supervisor at Cannon Air Force Base. "You have to pay attention."
In response to questions from the AP, the Marine Corps said the Osprey is still one of its safest aircraft. Over the past decade, the rate that it experienced the worst type of accident resulting in either death or loss of aircraft was 2.27 for every 100,000 hours of flight. The Marines said that compares with 5.66 for its other heavy lift helicopter, the CH-53.
Those numbers don't tell the whole story. The Marines' three most serious categories of accidents climbed from 2019 to 2023, even as the number of hours they flew dropped significantly — from 50,807 in fiscal 2019 to 37,670 in 2023, according to data obtained by the AP.
The Air Force's Osprey has a much higher rate of the worst type of accidents per 100,000 flight hours than its other major aircraft, and its incidents also climbed even as flight hours dropped.
The AP also found that the rise in safety problems over the past five years largely involved the Osprey's engine or drive system.
There were at least 35 instances where crews experienced an engine fire, power loss or stall, 42 issues involving the proprotors and at least 72 instances of the gears inside the transmission or drive system becoming so stressed they flake off metal chips that can quickly endanger a flight.
PILOTS HAVE TO FLY PERFECTLY
The Osprey's complexity tests its crews.
Pilots control the angle of the engines and proprotors with a small notched wheel they move with their thumbs. It's sensitive to the touch — too much of a nudge and the engines' angle changes by several degrees. And they have to watch a computer display to see the angle.
As the engines and rotor blades begin to rotate upward, the flight controls inside the cockpit change, too — from working like the controls inside an airplane to operating like those in a helicopter.
"You have to just mentally switch, while you are on approach, what your hands are doing," said Osprey pilot Capt. Christian Eells.
The aircraft's computer is designed to autocorrect for a pilot if their movement of the wheel could result in the Osprey's internal components being damaged. But that adds to the danger if a pilot can't quickly force the nacelles, which house the engines, upward to slow down the aircraft, he said.
"It will not prevent you from stalling, sinking rapidly or entering any other unsafe flight," Luce said. "But if you are going too fast, it will not only prevent you from raising the nacelles to slow down, the flight control computers will bounce the nacelles forward" to reduce strain on the gears — which speeds the Osprey up, Luce said.
If there are other complications in flight or a pilot is distracted or misses the significance of an aircraft warning light, those mistakes can turn dangerous quickly.
Lt. Col. Seth Buckley, the 20th Special Operations Squadron director of operations at the Cannon base, acknowledged that he puts a lot of pressure on his crews to be perfect.
"You have to take that mindset because there are so many things you can do in this aircraft to induce worse problems," Buckley said.
Reminders of why hang inside the squadron's heritage room at Cannon, where they have put up a wooden memorial plaque with eight upside-down shot glasses for the friends they lost last November in Japan.
Many of them also wear black metallic memorial bands on their wrists, with the Nov. 29, 2023, crash date and the Osprey's call sign, "Gundam 22," etched in.
OSPREY FACES INVESTIGATIONS
The most recent accidents have spurred new lawsuits and congressional investigations.
Family members of the five Marines killed in a 2022 crash in California, caused by an unprecedented dual failure of the Osprey's clutch, are suing Bell and Boeing, and the maker of the engines, Rolls-Royce. Some of the families of the eight Air Force members killed last November in the Japan crash, which was caused in part by weakened metals in a critical transmission gear, also have hired a lawyer.
"Ultimately, the goal is an Osprey that is as airworthy and in as safe a condition as possible," said attorney Tim Loranger, who is representing the families.
Following the Japan crash, the military grounded the fleet for three months. Congress also was investigating, and there was frustration from some lawmakers that the Osprey returned to flight before those reviews were complete.
In the meantime, it's been difficult to get a clear picture of how the aircraft's manufacturers are responding. After investigations into the Japan and Australia crashes were released this year, neither Bell Flight nor Boeing commented, citing pending litigation.
Naval Air Systems Command, or NAVAIR, which runs the joint Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy Osprey program, is working on a variety of upgrades that should make the aircraft easier to maintain and looking at how else the program can be improved.
"This is the appropriate time to be looking at systemic improvements to the platform," former program manager Marine Corps Col. Brian Taylor said in a statement.
But it's unlikely to change any of the fundamentals of vertical engines or rotor size. Those problems are getting fixed in a new aircraft called the Valor that Bell Flight is selling to the Army.
The Valor looks a lot like the Osprey, but it's smaller. The Valor's engines stay in a horizontal position. Its smaller size means the rotor blades are more proportional with the aircraft's weight, which reduces strain on all the other components.
The Valor "captured many lessons learned from both tiltrotor and helicopter previous experience," Bell said in a statement.
WHAT COMES NEXT FOR THE OSPREY?
Air Force leadership is watching the Osprey closely, investing in improvements to the engine to make it easier to maintain and looking at future alternatives. The Navy has taken steps to keep more of its legacy aircraft carrier transport planes around in case it can't make the Osprey work.
The Marine Corps is committed to flying its hundreds of Ospreys through 2050. But it's also doing a study to decide whether to "significantly modernize the MV/22 and/or begin the process to move forward" to a next-generation assault aircraft, Lt. Gen. Bradford Gering, Marine deputy commandant of aviation, said in a statement.
Until it has a new option, the Air Force is looking at what can be done to ensure pilots get the time and training needed to master the Osprey, Air Force special operations commander Lt. Gen. Michael Conley said.
"What I don't want is someone in my seat 10 years from now say, 'You know back in 2010, 2012, 2024, you knew crews weren't getting enough flight hours, you knew there were maintenance challenges, and here we are having the same discussion,'" Conley said.
But it's also about realizing that aspects of how the Osprey flies won't change, Buckley said.
"What you have to do is reduce your exposure," Buckley said.
For example, simulators can now model the full "Superman's cape" phenomenon, and crews can train to it. But there are still unknowns.
"I do think that we're still — and maybe even to this day — to a degree working through all the ins and outs aerodynamically what is different about this that has never been seen before with any other aircraft," Buckley said.
But that doesn't mean ground it, he said.
In Iraq, Buckley flew a mission where the Osprey was the only aircraft that could help save a service member's life after a vehicle rollover.
"There wasn't another plane flying in the sky because the weather was so bad," Buckley said. "We flew up and down the line of the haboob trying to get around it, but the lightning was too bad, so we penetrated."
"To this day, that guy is with his family," he said.
Buckley understands the risks in a different way than many of his crews. He was a high school senior when his 25-year-old brother, 1st Lt. Nathaniel D. Buckley, died in an AFSOC MC-130H cargo aircraft crash in 2002.
In his office, Buckley pointed to the American flag that the Air Force presented to his family after his brother's death.
"I think my job here is to ensure that I'm going to push it to the level that we are making sure we aren't delivering any more of these," he said.