Engineer Acquitted in Deadly 2017 Military Plane Crash

A jury has acquitted James Michael Fisher, a former engineer, of charges including making false statements and obstructing justice. These charges were connected to the investigation of a 2017 military plane crash in Mississippi that resulted in the deaths of 16 service members. The verdict was delivered on a Thursday following an eight-day trial in federal court.

Fisher, who was the lead propulsion engineer at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex in 2011, faced accusations of lying to federal agents about changes to inspection procedures. Investigators suggested these alleged lies were part of a cover-up aimed at shifting blame to maintenance technicians. However, Fisher's defense attorney argued that another individual had authorized changes to propeller inspection procedures while Fisher was abroad, negating the false statement claim.

The 2017 crash occurred when a propeller blade on a KC-130T transport plane broke apart mid-flight, causing the aircraft to disintegrate and fall into soybean fields near Itta Bena, Mississippi. The incident, which claimed the lives of 15 Marines and one Navy corpsman, was the deadliest Marine Corps air disaster since 2005. In response to the crash, several military branches temporarily grounded some C-130 aircraft to inspect and replace propeller blades.