Families balance their grief with pilots’ love of flying: NPR

WASHINGTON — The V-22 Osprey that crashed off the coast of Japan last November has brought the plane’s safety record back under scrutiny — but this time without one of its staunchest defenders.

Air Force Maj. Jeff Hoernemann has been flying the Osprey for more than a decade. Every time a new accident or incident occurred, you found him online, defending the warplane through his Reddit account, “UR_WRONG_ABOUT_V22.”

He and seven others were killed when their Air Force Special Operations Command CV-22B Osprey crashed.

The Japanese crash had profound repercussions within the Osprey community and left grieving families with the need to maintain a delicate balance. They know the crews were passionate about the Osprey because it is fast and capable like no other plane in the fleet. But the accidents keep happening, and none of them can bear the thought of another family facing this kind of heartbreak.

“Would Jeff want it to be grounded forever? No, he absolutely wouldn’t,” his mother, Cathy Hoernemann, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But I can’t sit idly by and wait for the next story of another accident, because I feel in my heart that if things continue as they are, it’s only a matter of time, and that will reproduce, then another family will be destroyed.

On Wednesday, the National Security Subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on the Osprey’s safety record and determine whether the program has adequate Pentagon oversight. It is the first in a series of congressional reviews and investigations triggered by the November crash.

The V-22 Osprey is a first-generation tilt-rotor technology for the U.S. military that allows operators to fly long distances quickly like an airplane, then tilt its huge rotors and engines to land on a target like a helicopter. It has been in design since the 1980s, but only began military operations in 2007.

There are about 400 Ospreys in the Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force, at a cost of about $80 million each, and manufacturers Bell Flight and Boeing don’t make more. Bell is preparing a next-generation tilt-rotor aircraft that incorporates substantial design changes, including engines that do not rotate in a vertical position, an aspect of the Osprey that has been a flashpoint in past accidents.

In the months following the Japan crash, there was a sense that the accident had led to a sea change in confidence in the Osprey. It also revealed an uneven divide between the services over the Osprey’s role in the future of their fleets. After a month of grounding following the November accident, the Marine Corps moved aggressively to get its Ospreys back in the air. The Air Force has taken a slower, more cautious approach — and its leaders are already talking publicly about seeking another aircraft to carry out its special operations mission in the future. The Navy has said its Ospreys have also not returned to their mission of carrying passengers on aircraft carriers, and at a Senate appropriations hearing in May, a top Navy acquisition official said said each variant was still subject to flight restrictions.

The Marine Corps, which purchased hundreds of Ospreys to replace the CH-46 helicopter, plans to keep the plane in its fleet at least until 2050. Families who spoke to the AP said that if the Osprey wants to keep flying, they want the Bell flight. , Boeing and the Pentagon’s V-22 Joint Office Program to make the design changes necessary to make the aircraft safe.

They tried through lawsuits and media attention, as well as through the late, outspoken Republican Representative from North Carolina. Walter Jones, who spent two decades of hearings and investigations until his death in 2019, did not let the focus on the program’s challenges fade.

Training to work around problems

Despite intermittent repairs, V-22 components wear out faster than expected or fail unexpectedly, leading to flight risks. Instead of engaging in a design overhaul, the response to date has been to train Osprey pilots to work around the problems.

“I believe continuing to fly under these circumstances is a big risk, but it is necessary because the services are completely dependent on the V-22,” said Rex Rivolo, a former Osprey program evaluator who raised safety concerns regarding the plane for the flight. last two decades.

Trish Brow’s husband, Lt. Collar. John Brow was killed in one of the Osprey’s first major accidents, an April 2000 crash in Marana, Arizona, that killed 19 Marines.

In the hazy months that followed, another Osprey pilot, Lt. Collar. Keith Sweeney contacted her.

“He told me they were making changes to the rate of descent, that it would be safer for them to move forward,” Brow said.

Sweaney died shortly afterward, in an Osprey crash in North Carolina in December 2000 that killed him and three other Marines.

“When it crashed, it was shocking,” Brow said.

After the Marana crash, Brow and Connie Gruber, whose husband, Marine Corps Maj. Brooks Gruber, who died in the same accident, settled one of the Osprey family’s first lawsuits with Bell and Boeing for an undisclosed amount.

Since then, there have been 10 other fatal Osprey crashes and other accidents in which the plane was destroyed but all passengers on board survived.

“Can’t you understand correctly?” »

“It’s a gut punch every time it happens. Why? Just because you’re like, ‘Oh my God, it’s coming back,'” Brow said. “You just want to shake your head and say, ‘Can’t you do it right?’ “

Last month, four other families filed a new lawsuit against Bell, Boeing and Rolls Royce, the maker of the Osprey’s engine. The lawsuit stems from a 2022 crash in Glamis, Calif., that killed five Marines and accuses the manufacturers of failing to meet safety standards and failing to address known parts failures that contributed to the ‘accident.

When an Osprey accident happened, Amber Sax turned to her husband, an Osprey pilot and Marine Corps captain. John Sax, for his understanding of what happened and his assurance of his safety.

She privately worried about the risks. But she knew her husband loved flying the Osprey so much that he turned down a slot flying Marine Corps fighter jets to get the MV-22 instead.

When news of the Glamis accident spread, Amber was at home pregnant with their second child.

“I never had a single conversation with John like, ‘I don’t want you to fly this, I don’t want you to do this anymore. Let’s get out. What are our options?’ I never once told him that,” Sax said. “But when I was waiting for the knock at the door, and I didn’t know if it was him or not, all I was thinking was. was, as soon as he gets home, I tell him, I don’t think so. I can do it. You’re going to have to walk me through all of this. Are you going to continue flying this plane? »

Sax was one of five Marines killed, and his wife is among those currently on trial.

Boeing and Bell declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.

Cathy Hoernemann discovered her son’s Reddit account at his funeral, when other Osprey pilots shared how much they loved him. She submitted a statement to the subcommittee regarding her concerns regarding the Osprey.

Each fatal accident occurred because something went wrong during the flight, not because of enemy fire, which hit hard, she said.

“I decided that if I wanted to honor my son and not let this be seen as another very serious accident, I couldn’t look these young men and women in the eye and wait for another accident,” said Hoernemann.

“These men and women get on these planes every day, confident, just like Jeff, that you will come home, that everything will be as it should be, and that everything will be safe,” she said, her voice breaking. . “It should be safe.”