By TARA COPP | Associated Press, via Fox 31 News
An Osprey crash in Australia that killed three Marines, including one from Colorado, was caused by multiple pilot errors during a near mid-air collision, a military investigation has found. It also found that squadron leadership had permitted “a culture that disregarded safety of flight.”
Two Marines pilots were killed by the Aug. 27 crash: Capt. Eleanor V. LeBeau, 29, and Maj. Tobin J. Lewis, 37, who was born and raised in Conifer, Colorado.
A third Marine, crew chief Cpl. Spencer R. Collart, 21, was killed as he “heroically re-entered the burning cockpit of the aircraft in an attempt to rescue the trapped pilots,” the investigators said in a report released late Friday.