Nation IN BRIEF : PENNSYLVANIA : Crash Halts Testing of Tilt-Rotor Plane

Test flights of the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey, an airplane that hovers like a helicopter, were suspended because one of five prototypes crashed on its maiden flight. At a news conference in Essington, Pa., Boeing Helicopters President Timothy Fehr said that “the aircraft haven’t been grounded (permanently), but we won’t resume flying until we know more” about the accident Tuesday in northern Delaware. The Osprey is a $1.8-billion program of Boeing Helicopters and Bell Helicopter Textron of Ft. Worth. Congress last week authorized an additional $900 million for the project, although the Defense Department wanted to scrap it. Fehr said that a recently discovered software problem had nothing to do with the crash but would not speculate on the cause. The Navy is investigating.