[oldironsides]

Thank Rep.Curt Weldon for this order. I know it is good for his district but is it good for pilots and passengers?
It has a spotty safety record. Not that the record means much to Weldon.

[Tribune7]

Weldon has been challegned to commute to work in it. I hope he takes it up.

Seriously, if Boeing wanted to build confidence in the aircraft they should keep a few for regular use by their corporate officers.

And I really do hope they got the bugs worked out and the thing fixed.

[Phsstpok]

but is it good for pilots and passengers? It has a spotty safety record.

Please name a military aircraft with a better record during testing or operation?

The Chinook that it is to replace killed a slew of people during testing and it still kills people in accidents. Witness the 12 dead in the accident caught on camera in Iraq by Ollie North's crew. F-111's crashed regularly in their first few years, and still crash occassionally. How many Blackhawk's and Apache's have we lost to accidents in the last year? I remember rather dramatic pictures of a B-52 cartwheeling into an air base a couple of years ago. What is safe?

This aircraft is designed to replace an aging helicopter with a 1950's design that can't do the mission anymore. The troops want it, not just the brass. They want to be able to get out of dodge as quick as they can, and this craft may give them the best shot at that.

They don't call it going into harm's way for nothing.