Air Force officials overturn Osprey crash findings

[unhappycamper]

Air Force officials overturn Osprey crash findings
By Bob Cox | The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Posted on Friday, December 17, 2010

Senior Air Force generals overturned the findings of their own investigation team and ruled that the fatal crash of a CV-22 Osprey in Afghanistan in April was largely due to flight crew mistakes and not a mechanical problem.

But the general who led the crash investigation said Thursday that there was strong evidence to indicate that the $87 million-plus aircraft, which has a history of technical problems, experienced engine trouble in the final seconds leading to the crash.

Four of the 20 people on board were killed in the April 9 crash, including the chief pilot.

Crash site evidence showed that the pilot tried an emergency roll-on landing, as if it were a conventional airplane, rather than a vertical, helicopter-type landing the Osprey is designed to perform. The pilot performed the landing so well he nearly saved the aircraft and prevented a greater loss of life, the Air Force's Accident Investigation Board concluded in the report released late Thursday.

"I think they knew they were going down and they had some kind of power problem," chief investigator Brig. Gen. Donald Harvel said in an interview with the Star-Telegram after the report was released.

[Angry Dragon]

1. The government way

If you don't like the answer ........ just change it

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Nice to see that they cling so tenaciously to their principles

even with a new Administration.

You gotta admire the way they refuse to let themselves be bound by reality.

[Historic NY]

2. Scariest thing I've ever seen fly.

[somone]

4. They're protecting the fat cushy jobs waiting for them

they couldn't care less about the people on the aircraft

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. What are a few deaths to a billion dollar contract?

Hell we can get a foreigner
to join our mercenary armies for a chance for Roman Citizenship,
there are billions available for that expendable carnage.

[unhappycamper]

6. You can buy only ten of these things with a billion dollars.

$100 million a pop.

[Selatius]

7. They are doing this because they want to replace their aging fleet of supply craft with these things

The Air Force needed conventional runways to land aircraft like the C-5 or the C-130, but the Osprey promises them similar capabilities with little more than just a clearing or a dirt runway. It may look good on paper, but it is different in practice. Nobody cares beyond what it looks like on paper, and a shit ton of people are going to make money on that.

Besides, the only soldiers and pilots who are gonna die are from poor families who probably don't even have enough money to hire an attorney for obvious negligence on apart of the government. It's probably cheaper to let them die in the wreckage than spend money inventing a better aircraft. This is the Ford Pinto with wings. :sarcasm: