Boeing Company and Bell Helicopter Textron recently agreed to pay Lt. Col. Keith Sweaney's family "substantially more" than $1 million after a V-22 Osprey manufactured by the two companies crashed and killed Sweaney and three other marines. The accident occurred near Jacksonville, N.C. in December 2000.
The Osprey has been at the center of an intense debate regarding its safety and military readiness. The aircraft takes off and lands like a helicopter yet flies like a conventional plane. Sweaney was one of the military's most experienced Osprey pilots.
In other Osprey news, last month two marine officers were reprimanded for altering maintenance records of the V-22 in an effort to make the aircraft appear more effective and trouble free. Some critics speculate that Marine commanders are behind a conspiracy to promote the troubled aircraft, despite its problematic history. An unrelated Osprey crash occurred in April 2000 in which all 19 aboard died.