SAN DIEGO - The plane that went down in the Imperial Valley on Wednesday was a an MV-22B Osprey, an aircraft that can bee seen regularly flying over San Diego.
"They take off like a helicopter but once they get going, they fly like an airplane and that's that's why the Marines really like 'em," says Aviation Safety Consultant Rich Martindell.
But a Martindell tells reporting partner 10 News, the Osprey has had a history of issues.
Photo: AFP
"Both from design and mechanical issues and from operational issues learning how to use it," Martindell said. "They've seem to overcome that and they're now are doing much better than they were but they still have a high accident rate."
Recent incidents include a crash in Hawaii in November 2015 which killed two Marines from Miramar. Three Marines died in an Osprey crash in August of 2017 in Australia and four Marines died in March of this year after a crash in Norway. According to reports, most of those Osprey crashes are the result of pilot error.
Here's more from reporting partner 10 News: