Camp Pendleton
Two Marines escaped unharmed Friday after their AH-1T Cobra attack helicopter caught fire and made an emergency landing.
The accident occurred during a maintenance test flight about four miles south of the Border Patrol checkpoint at San Onofre, a Marine Corps spokesman said.
The crewmen, Capt. Brad Bailey and 1st Lt. Randy Hammond of Camp Pendleton-based Marine Light Helicopter Squadron 169, set the aircraft down after a fire broke out inside the craft, Maj. Tom Mitchell said.
Mitchell, the base’s deputy public affairs officer, said the crewmen extinguished the fire after getting out of the helicopter.
The amount of damage to the helicopter was not disclosed. The incident, which occurred about 2:50 p.m., is under investigation by the Marine Corps.
On Nov. 14, two Marine airmen were killed when a helicopter like the one involved in Friday’s incident crashed in the Cleveland National Forest. That accident occurred during a training mission.
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