Brian Jones: “This is not the first time I've been on the floor of the House to speak about the V 22 Osprey crash that took place in…”

“This is not the first time I've been on the floor of the House to speak about the V 22 Osprey crash that took place in Arizona in 2000--the crash that claimed the lives of 19 Marines. Mr. Speaker, the pilots of the Osprey, Major Brooks Gruber and Lieutenant Colonel John Brow, have been blamed for the accident by the media. The reason I'm standing here 12 years later is that the Marine Corps has not supported the finding of their own accident investigation for 12 years. The fact is, the official report, known as the JAGMAN report, conducted by the United States Marine Corps, clearly states that the pilots were not at fault. On page 77 of the JAGMAN it says: ``During this investigation, we found nothing that we would characterize as negligence, deliberate pilot error, or maintenance material failure.'' After 12 years, the JAGMAN, which has not been--nor do we want to try to change that report that I just read, Mr. Speaker, but we're asking the United States Marine Corps to make the change that is necessary because after the crash on April 8 of 2000, the United States Marine Corps claimed in their own press release: ``The pilots' drive to accomplish the mission appears to be the fatal factor.'' Mr. Speaker, the Osprey, for those that might not be familiar, is the helicopter that goes from the helicopter mode into an airplane mode. At the time of this crash the V 22 was still an experimental plane.…”