Tara Copp has spent years investigating the safety record of the Osprey, building trust with families of service members who have died in crashes, military leaders who offer her investigation reports before anyone else and pilots who still want to fly the aircraft. She filed Freedom of Information Acts to obtain thousands of pages of hard-to-get accident reports and flight data, interviewed more than 50 current and former program officials, crew members and experts. Notably, Copp secured an interview and helped organize for freelance photographer Jeff Dean to take portraits of the lead voice Brian Luce, who had survived two crashes and has never spoken to a journalist before about the experience. Copp also flew both simulator and real training flights to understand the Osprey’s safety issues, all of which she filmed herself.
The project was a masterclass in AP collaboration. Data journalist Aaron Kessler analyzed the data, finding that the top three most serious types of incidents were up nearly 50% over the past five years and the Osprey was performing worse than other types of aircraft when considering how often it flies. Artist Kevin Vineys created a series of engaging and informative interactives that show the most problematic parts of the Osprey and the arc of the problems over time in an eye-popping way. Videojournalist Mike Pesoli worked on the video edit and a loop video to feature at the top of the online presentation. Photo editor Jon Elswick pulled key file or military images of the aircraft and crashes and combined those with new photos from Tara’s visit to a training base and Jeff’s portraits of her lead character. Josh Cornfield brought all of the pieces together in a deeply engaging online presentation that our digital audiences couldn’t stop scrolling through.
The judges were impressed by the depth of the investigation and its achievement of breaking news and giving audiences new insights though others have reported previously on the Osprey’s problems.
Days after the story was published, U.S. lawmakers cited the AP’s reporting in a letter they sent to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asking him to ground the military’s entire fleet of V-22 Ospreys again until solutions could be put in place to address safety and design issues. Several current or former service members also reached out to Tara to praise the balance of the story and thanking her for her comprehensive work. It was used by military publications like the Military Times and Stars and Stripes as well as more traditional digital members.
For deep, exclusive reporting that spurred action at the highest levels, Copp, Kessler and Vineys win this week’s Best of AP — Second Winner.
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