[Fair use for education and research purpose only]

Title: All 19 Dead in U.S. Marine Plane Crash in Arizona Updated 3:19 AM ET April 9, 2000

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - All 19 people onboard a U.S. Marine Corps plane were killed Saturday night when it crashed during a training exercise, a Pentagon spokesman said.

An MV 22 Osprey crashed with 15 Marines and four crewmembers on board at about 8 p.m. PDT near Avra Valley Airport in Marana, Arizona, about 20 miles outside of Tucson, Arizona, according to Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon.

"We believe all 19 have perished," Bacon told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary William Cohen, who was in Kuwait. "We don't know anything about the cause right now. It's premature to speculate."

Bacon said the Marines were conducting training exercises using night vision goggles when the crash occurred.

The Osprey can take off and land like a helicopter using rotors before converting to fixed-wing operations that enables it to fly as fast as a plane.

http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/04/09/stifgnusa02003.html

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), April 09, 2000