In a statement to NBC News on Friday, a Navy spokesman confirmed that the update of super stallions with technology is “prohibitive cost” due to the remaining useful life of the aircraft.
Naval Marines use the powerful super stallions to carry heavy equipment, supplies and troops for over 30 years, according to the Navy, of which the body of Marines is part. It will cost almost $ 72 million to replace the super stallion destroyed in the accident, according to the investigation report.
“The investigation team of this accident worked exhaustively, thoroughly evaluating scenarios and possible simulations to draw conclusions from the available data and analysis,” said the 3rd wing of seabed wing.
However, the latest variant of the Marines body helicopters, called CH-53k King Stallion, is equipped with a surviving flight recorder with voice recording capacity and should replace the old Super Stallion fleet with the 2032 fiscal year, a spokesman said.
And the Marines announced in July 2023 that they would begin to integrate a surviving, high temperature and fire-resistant data recorder in all their MV-22B PREYS after another fatal incident.
The father’s effort to update the federal antiquated federal technology occurs after a series of aviation disasters this year, including US deadly crash in almost a quarter of a century. On January 29, a Black Hawk army collided on a commercial plane near Washington, DC, killing all 67 people on board the plane and helicopter.
The army helicopter had a black box, which authorities said they had recovered in good condition.
During this investigation, Langen said, “There were many questions that were answered.” The investigators were able to completely inform reporters with what they had and what they were still analyzing less than a month after the disaster.
“We will never have that,” said Langen.
Throughout the country, amid narrow and poorly staff calls, worried riders and air traffic controllers are also begging the federal administration of aviation to fix their aging infrastructure.
The call to change follows the scrutiny of the super stallion for repeated mechanical failures.
In 2014, a super stallion that carried 25 members of the service fell due to the catastrophic failure of one of its engines, although all passengers survived. Four years later, four Marines were killed when his super stallion fell during a training mission in southern California.
A maritime investigation found that the 2018 accident was caused by a defective part, according to a lawsuit filed by Marines families against the supplier and the manufacturer of the play. The case was resolved and the agreement was confidential, according to Dave Casey, San Diego’s lawyer representing the pilots.
The February 2024 accident that killed Langen’s son was not the result of a material or mechanical failure of any component in the aircraft, the investigators said, although they said that the helicopter engine light warned erroneously on early day due to a worn wire.
Investigators made some recommendations to marine leadership, including clarifying the vague language in protocols and determining the best way to discipline the squad commander for authorizing the flight, but did not address the lack of data that prevented their investigation.
“As a mother, you want to know what happened,” said Langen.
The five members of the Maritime Helicopter Squad 361 took off from the County Imperial Airport, where they replenished from a previous flight to Nevada, and returned home to the Miramar Marine Corps aircraft in San Diego, shortly after 22:00 on February 6, 2024, according to the investigation report.
There were three pilots on board: Captain Miguel Nava, 28; Captain Benjamin Moulton, 27; and Captain Jack Casey, 26. Also on board was Lance CPL. Owner Davis, 21, which was recently promoted.
Sgt. Alec Langen, 23, was the head of the crew, responsible for the safety of passengers and other loads, as well as maintenance on board. He had just married about a month earlier, said his father.
And Nava of Travers City, Michigan, had just become a father, receiving a baby with his wife about four months, his family told NBC News.
About 30 minutes of flight, they all collided with a mountain range near Pine Valley, California.
Search and rescue teams were needed on 10 hours Find your bodies in a remote snow -covered area. At least two of them were instantly killed, and one was completely unrecognizable, found in an aviation fuel pool, according to the report.
“The hardest part to read was that the five lay there until 8 am,” Langen said.
The deterioration of weather conditions should have signaled the crew that it was not feasible to fly safely, the investigators said, but could not “identify an explanation” because they took off.
After the accident, Davis’s father said the family was “struggling to understand the operational need to fly to one of the worst storms in Southern California history.”
Gregory Davis asked the Defense Department to conduct a complete investigation into the circumstances behind the decisions that led to the accident “so that we can have some understanding and closure for the seemingly meaningless loss of our son and brother.”
In November 2024, the team commander was fired after the authorities determined that he “exhibited bad trial” and “exceeded his authority” in the approval of the flight, according to the report.
The investigators said he should have taken more than two minutes to talk to the pilot about climatic conditions and his planned route, and that he should have sought the flight approval of a higher level, but did not blame him for the accident.
Langen said he and his wife “never wanted any fingers to be pointed out.” They just wanted answers about why they no longer had their child “bigger than life”, which raised with most people with 1.80m, always had a smile and followed in the footsteps of his veteran father.
To find more clarity, Langen said he studied autopsy reports and the 1,140 -page investigation report, which was strongly written. He also examined the photos that lasts the accident and visited the scene of the accident.
This only produced more disgust.
Instead, Langen put his son to rest without knowing what happened in his final moments. The family held their funeral at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, where authorities briefly closed airspace to honor a man who served for seven years and planned to make a career as a naval Marine, Langen said.
When he died, Alec Langen was only three weeks less than being transferred to a safer job, his father said.