As Congress investigates the Osprey, families balance grief with pilots’ love for the warplane

By TARA COPP
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House subcommittee is holding a hearing on the troubled safety record of the Osprey aircraft and whether the program has adequate Pentagon oversight. Wednesday’s hearing is being closely watched by families who have lost loved ones in Osprey crashes, including one off of Japan in November that killed eight service members. The Japan crash has reverberated deeply within the Osprey community and left the grieving families with the need to maintain a delicate balance. They know the crews were passionate about the Osprey, because it is fast and performs like no other aircraft in the fleet. But the crashes keep happening, and none of them can stomach the idea of another family facing this kind of grief.