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[h=4]Crash at Hawaii Air Force station kills 1 Marine, hurts 21[/h]Honolulu fire crews were responding to a report of an aircraft crash at Bellows Air Force Station, the Associated Press reported Sunday, just as the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy this week were hosting defense leaders from around the Pacific.
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Smoke rises from a Marine Corps Osprey aircraft after it made a hard landing on Bellows Air Force Station near Waimanalo, Hawaii, Sunday,(Photo: Kimberly Hynd, AP)
One Marine was killed and 21 others hurt Sunday when a helicopter at Bellows Air Force Station experienced a "hard landing," the U.S. military said Sunday. The incident took place just as the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy this week were hosting defense leaders from around the Pacific.
An MV-22 Osprey from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit crashed during a training exercise around 11:40 a.m. local time.
Twenty-two people were aboard the aircraft, including 21 Marines and one Navy corpsman assigned to the unit, spokesman Capt. Brian Block said in an email.
The injuries ranged from critical to minor, Marine Corps Forces Pacific spokesman Capt. Alex Lim said.
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The Marines were training at Bellows Air Force Station on Oahu. The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit is based at Camp Pendleton in California. Since May 10, the unit has been on a seven-month deployment to the Pacific Command and Central Command areas of operation, the Marines said in a statement.
The cause of the incident is under investigation. Officials have not identified any of the Marines aboard.
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.
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A U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft has made an unprecedented landing on a Japanese naval vessel off the California coast. (June 14) AP
U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines were expected to attend this week's meeting, along with U.S. partners like Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. Altogether, 23 nations were joining the meeting, which was to include an opportunity to watch U.S. Marines and sailors demonstrate landing forces on a Hawaii beach.
The Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like a plane. They 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.
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Since being fielded at large, though, it's been a workhorse in Iraq, Afghanistan and for crisis-response missions in places like Nepal after the recent earthquakes.
In October, Marine Cpl. Jordan L. Spears died after the Osprey he was in briefly lost power after taking off from the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship Makin Island. He and another Marine jumped out of the aircraft. The pilot subsequently regained control of the aircraft, and safely landed on back on the Makin Island. The other Marine was recovered from the water.
Back in 2012, a Marine investigation concluded that operator error caused an April crash of an Osprey in Morocco that killed two Marines and injured two others. The incident fueled unease in Japan, where the hybrid aircraft were being deployed.
Also in 2012, five airmen with the Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.-based 1st Special Operations Wing were injured when their Osprey crashed June 13 in a remote area of Eglin's sprawling reservation north of Navarre, Fla.
Contributing: Derrick Perkins, Military Times, and The Associated Press
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