SrA. Nicholas Eischen apparently died in his sleep on Dec. 24, 2007, at Bagram AB, Afghanistan, but the actual cause of his death remains a mystery. The Los Angeles Times reported on Jan 13, citing the airman’s grandfather, that Eischen had had his gall bladder removed three weeks before his death. But the procedure was thought to have gone smoothly and the 24-year-old airman was regarded as being otherwise healthy, the newspaper said. Eischen leaves behind a wife and a two-year-old son.
The Air Force has begun flying its CV-22 Ospreys again. But that is just the start of a multi-step process to return the fleet to normal operations following a deadly crash last year, the service says.