Jury acquits former engineer in 2017 Mississippi military plane crash investigation
A federal jury in Greenville, Mississippi, has acquitted James Michael Fisher of charges of making false statements and obstructing justice connected to the 2017 crash of a military plane that killed 16 service members. The eight-day trial concluded Thursday.
Fisher, a former lead propulsion engineer at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex in Georgia, was indicted in 2024 after retiring. The indictment accused him of lying to federal agents about changes to inspection procedures during an investigation into the crash, suggesting he was part of a cover-up that shifted blame onto maintenance technicians.
The crash involved a KC-130T transport plane that broke apart over Mississippi on July 10, 2017. Investigators said a cracked and corroded propeller blade, which had not been properly inspected, caused the aircraft to break apart in flight. All 16 crew members aboard were killed when the wreckage fell into soybean fields near Itta Bena.
Fisher’s defense attorney, Steve Farese, argued that others had authorized maintenance changes while Fisher was in Brazil and that Fisher did not lie when he told investigators no documents had been signed in 2011 authorizing those changes. Farese emphasized that the propeller was worked on days before the relevant form was signed and that the document did not play a role in the crash.
The indictment alleged that engineers at the Georgia base approved about 30 changes to propeller inspection procedures from 2008 to 2017. Prosecutors indicated they no longer trusted Fisher due to the apparent lack of documentation. The crash was the deadliest Marine Corps air disaster since 2005. The plane was en route from North Carolina to Arizona with Marine special operations forces, including members of an elite Marine Raider battalion.
The wreckage spread across farmland near Itta Bena, approximately 85 miles north of Jackson. Families later gathered to dedicate a memorial at the site. Following the crash, several military branches temporarily grounded some of their C-130 aircraft for inspections and repairs.
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