The families of five U.S. Marines who died in an Osprey crash during a training mission in Southern California say Boeing and two other aircraft manufacturers are responsible for their deaths.

On June 8, 2022, the Marines set out on a routine flight operation when a “catastrophic and unanticipated mechanical failure” caused the V-22 Osprey to crash in the desert in Glamis, according to the findings of a U.S. Marine Corps investigation.

The crash killed Capt. John J. Sax, 33, of Placer, California; Capt. Nicholas P. Losapio, 31, of Rockingham, New Hampshire; Cpl. Nathan E. Carlson, 21, of Winnebago, Illinois; Cpl. Seth D. Rasmuson, 21, of Johnson, Wyoming; and Lance Cpl. Evan A. Strickland, 19, from Valencia, New Mexico.

The Marines’ loved ones say the manufacturers of the Osprey — Boeing, Bell Textron and Rolls-Royce — knew the aircraft was unsafe before their deaths, but they didn’t warn the U.S. military.

“The entire aircraft, was defective and unreasonably dangerous,” a new federal lawsuit filed by the men’s families says.

With flaws and defects, the Osprey didn’t meet government safety standards, according to a complaint filed May 23 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

The widow of Sax, a Sacramento-area native who is the son of former Los Angeles Dodgers player Steve Sax, said in a statement that the families want “accountability, answers, and change.”

“Our military members deserve equipment and aircraft free of failures, especially failures that can cause the loss of their lives,” Amber Sax, who is a plaintiff in the case, said. “I should have been growing old with my husband, our two children shouldn’t be growing up without their father.”

Alongside Amber Sax, the widows of Rasmuson and Carlson, and Strickland’s parents are suing Boeing, Bell and Rolls-Royce for negligence. They’re asking for a jury trial and seeking more than $75,000 in damages.

Bell spokesman Jay Hernandez told McClatchy News on May 23 that the company “cannot comment on matters of litigation.”

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