NEW YORK — An Osprey being used to ferry White House staff and government officials from an event in New York on Monday was grounded due to a safety concern, with one witness reporting flames under the right engine.

The staff and officials were removed from the aircraft, part of the Marine Corps HMX-1 presidential helicopter fleet, and transferred to a second Osprey to continue their trip accompanying President Joe Biden at a “Friendsgiving” event with members of the U.S. Coast Guard in Staten Island.

The issue caused only a minor delay for Biden’s return to Washington on Monday evening.

The incident occurred the same day lawmakers sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asking him to re-ground the military’s entire fleet of V-22 Ospreys until solutions can be put in place to address safety and design issues identified by The Associated Press in its recent in-depth investigation of the aircraft’s accident record.

The Marine Corps did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the New York incident. A journalist traveling with the president reported seeing a fire under the right engine shortly before staff were notified the Osprey would be grounded.

It’s not the first time White House staff or reporters have had to be removed from an Osprey during a trip due to safety concerns. In November 2023 an Osprey ferrying White House reporters and staff returned to the ground shortly after takeoff after four loud “pops” were heard and smoke was seen.

In the letter sent Monday to Austin, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and Rep. Richard Neal, all Democrats from Massachusetts, said that “given the current concerns about the safety of the V-22, the aircraft should be grounded, and should not be deployed again until the platform’s significant deficiencies are fully addressed.”

The Osprey, which flies like both a helicopter and an airplane, has been in more than 21 major accidents, many of which can be tied back to choices made in its design, the AP found.

The whole fleet was grounded for three months this year following a deadly crash in Japan in November 2023 that killed eight service members, including one from Massachusetts.

Ospreys, which are operated by the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps and used in the presidential fleet, have now returned to flight operations, with some restrictions.

Osprey pilots have told the AP they do not want to see the aircraft grounded, despite safety concerns, because of its unique capabilities. Program officials have said they are working on fixes to improve the V-22’s safety and reliability.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

The lawmakers also cited the AP’s reporting that pilots are having to push the V-22’s “interim power” feature to be able to land safely — but are advised against it because it can wear down parts. Interim power was a factor in the most recent accident in October when a Japanese self-defense forces Osprey violently tilted and struck the ground on takeoff. An investigation determined the pilots were to blame for not turning on the interim power during takeoff.

“The reality for pilots is that they have to push the aircraft to its limits to stay safe,” the lawmakers wrote.

A sonar image suspected of showing the remains of the plane of Amelia Earhart, the famed American aviator who disappeared over the Pacific in 1937, has turned out to be a rock formation.

Deep Sea Vision (DSV), a South Carolina-based firm, released the blurry image in January captured by an unmanned submersible of what it said may be Earhart’s plane on the seafloor.

Not so, the company said in an update on Instagram this month.

“After 11 months the waiting has finally ended and unfortunately our target was not Amelia’s Electra 10E (just a natural rock formation),” Deep Sea Vision said.

“As we speak DSV continues to search,” it said. “The plot thickens with still no evidence of her disappearance ever found.”

The image was taken by DSV during an extensive search in an area of the Pacific to the west of Earhart’s planned destination, remote Howland Island.

Tony Romeo, a pilot and former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, told the Wall Street Journal earlier this year that he funded the $11 million search by selling off his commercial real estate properties.

“This is maybe the most exciting thing I’ll ever do in my life,” he told the Journal. “I feel like a 10-year-old going on a treasure hunt.”  

Earhart went missing while on a pioneering round-the-world flight with navigator Fred Noonan.

Her disappearance is one of the most tantalizing mysteries in aviation lore, fascinating historians for decades and spawning books, movies and theories galore.

The prevailing belief is that Earhart, 39, and Noonan, 44, ran out of fuel and ditched their twin-engine Lockheed Electra in the Pacific near Howland Island while on one of the final legs of their epic journey.

Earhart, who won fame in 1932 as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, took off on May 20, 1937 from Oakland, California, hoping to become the first woman to fly around the world.

Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937, while flying over the Pacific Ocean during Earhart’s attempt to become the first female aviator to circle the globe. They vanished without a trace, spurring the largest and most expensive search and rescue effort by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard in American history. Earhart and Noonan were declared dead two years later.

Multiple deep-sea searches using high-tech equipment have tried but failed over the years to find Earhart’s plane.

There other theories about where Earhart may have vanished. Ric Gillespie, who has researched Earhart’s doomed flight for decades, told CBS News in 2018 that he had proof Earhart crash-landed on Gardner Island — about 350 nautical miles from Howland Island — and that she called for help for nearly a week before her plane was swept out to sea.

Gillespie’s organization, the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, has also claimed that it found forensic evidence, including bones on the island, that were likely Earhart’s.

contributed to this report.