On 8 April 2000, a V-22 Osprey aircraft operated by the United States Marine Corps crashed during a night training exercise at Marana Regional Airport near Tucson, Arizona.

It was later determined that the aircraft had entered an aerodynamic condition known as vortex ring state, which resulted from a high rate of descent compounded by pilot error.

Colonel Brow maneuvered the aircraft to land, the Osprey entered an erratic roll, turning on its back and slamming into the ground nose first.

[6][7] After two months of investigation by the Marine Corps Judge Advocate General a final report was released which absolved the aircraft itself of any mechanical faults and instead pinned the blame on the exceptionally high rate of descent coupled with human error.

The contributing factors to the mishap, a steep approach with a high rate of descent and slow airspeed, poor aircrew coordination and diminished situational awareness are also not particular to tilt rotors.

"[9]The final arbiter in the debate is the determination in 2016 by then Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work that vindicates the pilots in the crash, a battle that took 16 years.