General Harvel says:
“My heart and brain said it was not pilot error. I stuck with what I thought was the truth.”
And that's the thing, isn't it? We all cling to our version of what we
think is "the truth." Trouble is, it may or may not actually be...you know...The Truth. Your reality may not be my reality. And I sort of feel sorry for Brig. General Harvel in his opposition to others on the cause of this accident. But let's give him credit at least for not being a complete and total idiot. He's obviously an intelligent guy, and I doubt that he's intentionally lying. He probably honestly believes that this particular V-22 suffered some sort of extraordinary dual power failure at
exactly the wrong time and place. His superiors in the Air Force disagreed.
I'll only make two observations and then leave it alone:
1) There were A-10's flying cover and relaying video of the mission. Did they not have IR capability? If so, can it be determined if the engines were producing heat? I ask because I don't know. Surely if the engines had "failed," then their exhuast heat signature would be diminished.
2) Ironically, this accident bears a strong resemblance to the infamous accident on 8April 2000 in Marana, Arizona that killed 19 Marines. In both cases the aircraft was running late and the pilots made an improvised, non-standard approach. Marana of course was blamed on A-VRS and this one wasn't, but the end result is basically the same: Crashed V-22.
And in this case, the preponderance of evidence that has been released to the public calls into question General Harvel's version of "the truth." Maybe he's right, but sadly, it does not seem so.