One Marine killed, 21 others hospitalized after Osprey aircraft’s hard landing in Hawaii

Posted 2015-05-18 18:00 by Grunt Report with 0 comments

One Marine was killed and 21 others were hospitalized Sunday after an Osprey aircraft made a hard landing in Hawaii, causing a fire that sent dark smoke billowing into the sky.

The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit said the tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey, which can take off and land like a helicopter but has wings to fly like an airplane, had a “hard-landing mishap” at approximately 11:40 a.m. local time.

Officials didn’t provide details about the conditions of the injured Marines, who were undergoing what was termed “routine sustainment training” at Bellows Air Force Station on Oahu. The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit is based at Camp Pendleton in California. It had departed May 10 on a seven-month deployment.

Kimberly Hynd said she was hiking the popular Lanikai Pillbox Trail and could see three Osprey aircraft performing maneuvers from her vantage point in the hills above Bellows. She noticed them kicking up dirt but then saw smoke and fire. Hynd, who estimated she was 2 to 3 miles away, didn’t hear the sound of a large crash.

“It looked like they were doing some sort of maneuver or formation — and so I was taking pictures of it because usually you can’t see them that close up,” Hynd said.

Donald Gahit said he saw smoke rising in the air from Bellows when he looked outside his house after hearing sirens pass by.

“At first I thought it was clouds, but it was moving fast and it was pretty dark,” the Waimanalo resident said.

Ospreys may be equipped with radar, lasers and a missile defense system. Each can carry 24 Marines into combat.

Built by Boeing Co. and Bell, a unit of Textron Inc., the Osprey program was nearly scrapped after a history of mechanical failures and two test crashes that killed 23 Marines in 2000.

The aircraft have since been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Some Osprey are also helping with earthquake relief efforts in Nepal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.