Squadron CO fired after Afghanistan P-3 crash - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Squadron CO fired after Afghanistan P-3 crash

A squadron commander in Afghanistan was fired Friday after the P-3 Orion aircraft he was piloting overshot the runway, crashed and went up in flames three days earlier at Bagram Air Base, Navy officials said.

Cmdr. Llewellyn D. Lewis, 40, was removed as commander of a squadron that deployed under Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 5, based at Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine, Navy spokesman Lt. Sean Robertson said.

Several spokesmen declined to identify the squadron, citing operational security. Personnel records show he has been assigned to Special Projects Patrol Squadron 1 since March 2007.

The crash caused serious structural and fire damage to the plane and marked the latest incident for the fleet of troubled maritime patrol and reconnaissance planes. It was a Class A mishap, which includes aircraft that are destroyed or receive more than $1 million in damage.

One crew member suffered a broken ankle, the only injury. Typically, the P-3 flies with an 11-person crew of officers and sailors. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, Navy officials said.

Capt. James Hoke, the patrol wing’s commanding officer, reassigned Lewis and assigned Cmdr. Craig Lee, the squadron’s executive officer, as the temporary commander, Robertson said.

VPU-1 flies a specialized version of the recon plane, the P-3 “Reef Point,” which includes additional long-range cameras and electro-optical sensors, said John Pike, a defense expert and director of GlobalSecurity.org.

During a deployment in Afghanistan, “they are basically looking for Taliban movements and convoys,” Pike said.

The unit is smaller than traditional squadrons, typically having only two or three planes, Pike said.

The crash is the second Class A mishap this year for the P-3. The previous one, in July, was the first in more than 10 years.

The Navy grounded 39 Orions in December — roughly 20 percent of the fleet — citing “structural fatigue” and fears that wing sections could break off in flight. One more P-3 was grounded in March.

In August, the Navy signed contracts for $190 million to buy 17 new outer-wing assembly kits to rehabilitate the grounded aircraft.

In September, Navy officials stepped up the timeline for replacing some of the P-3s. Training for the first ready-to-deploy squadron of Boeing-made P-8A Poseidons, the P-3 replacement, was moved up to early fiscal 2013, nine months before the previous target date.

In the July incident, a Patrol Squadron 1 pilot lost control of a P-3 after an engine surged during a training exercise near NAS Whidbey Island, Wash.

The aircraft dropped 5,500 feet and pulled seven Gs before its pilot regained control less than 200 feet from the ground. The aircraft lost 45 rivets, broke a wing spar and bent its airframe; it landed safely at Whidbey with its crew unharmed.

The Navy has 156 P-3 Orions in service.