Dana Point : Marine Copter Makes Precautionary Landing
A faulty hydraulic system apparently forced a CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter to make a precautionary landing in a field off Crown Valley Parkway, just north of Dana Point, on Tuesday afternoon, a Marine Corps spokesman said.
The three crewmen, who were on a routine training mission, landed the helicopter without injury at around 4 p.m., according to Staff Sgt. Jim Hager, a spokesman for the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.
The helicopter is a smaller version of the trouble-plagued CH-53E Super Stallion. In February, the Navy grounded 44 Super Stallions based at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station because of suspected gearbox problems.
Hager said the helicopter was to be repaired in the field and then flown out, if nothing seriously wrong was found. The cause of the landing is under investigation, he said.
Meanwhile, a second Marine Corps helicopter, this one en route to the Tustin station, made an emergency landing at rural Warner Springs Airport in northeast San Diego County on Tuesday night when the pilot reported “smoke in the cockpit,” a Federal Aviation Administration official said.
The CH-53 helicopter with three people aboard landed safely at approximatley 9:15 p.m., about 45 minutes after the pilot reported smoke from an undetermined problem, said Don Ralph, area supervisor for the FAA at Miramar Naval Air Station.
No information was available on where the flight originated or what model of CH-53 helicopter was involved.
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