Afghan crash latest blow to Orion fleet - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Afghan crash latest blow to Orion fleet

An incoming Navy P-3 Orion airplane overshot the runway, crashed and went up in flames Tuesday at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, the latest mishap for the fleet of troubled maritime patrol and reconnaissance planes.

The crash caused serious structural and fire damage to the plane, part of Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 5, based at Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine.

One U.S. crew member suffered a broken ankle, the only injury. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, Navy officials said.

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

Navy officials have grown increasingly concerned about the P-3s. 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 aging 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 earlier than 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 Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash.

The aircraft dropped 5,500 feet, pulling 7 Gs before its pilot regained control less than 200 feet from the ground, according to the reports. 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.