Feds settle suit for $2M after taxiing skydiving plane hits Marine Osprey aircraft

Depending on whom you talk to, San Diego has around 250 days of sunshine a year.

May 30, 2020, was one of them, with the mercury in the 70s and San Diego's famous blue skies shining overhead.

A perfect day for flying.

The problem was, at Brown Field in San Diego, a United States Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft was not in the air but, rather, was parked and empty, and a De Havilland DHC-6-100 Twin Otter being used for skydiving was on the ground too, taxiing, when the Twin Otter, whose props were rotating, crashed into the Osprey, The damage was extensive to both aircraft.

On Monday, the parties to the suit agreed to a settlement under wich the Navy would be paid $2,020,000, and the case would be dismissed with prejudice.

The U.S.-made Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster, like an airplane, during flight. Air Force Special Operations Command has 51 Ospreys, the U.S. Marine Corps flies more than 400 and the U.S. Navy operates 27.

The Twin Otter had been rented out to Tac Air — a self-described "world-class military air operations parachute proficiency and tactical training company — by Kapowsin, a skydiving outfit, both of which (along with the city of San Diego, the operator of Brown Field) were named as defendants in the suit, as were Brown Field Aviation Ventures and the Lancair Corporation.

“This unfortunate incident caused an MV-22 to be stricken from service, which resulted in a significant loss to the United States and the Department of the Navy,” said U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath. “Securing an early resolution in this case achieved the right result."

As expensive as that settlement may sound for the accident, which, again, caused significant damage — photographs show one of the Osprey's propellers chewed almost clean threw and heavy damage to the turbine on that wing as well — the government had originally sought more than $5.7 million, according to Military.com.

The military aircraft itself costs as much as $90 million per unit, per some published reports.