2 Marine Aircraft in Accidents
A Marine Corps pilot ejected safely before his Harrier II fighter crashed into the Pacific, and a Marine helicopter was damaged in a hard landing at a mountain practice site in separate accidents Wednesday.
The vertical-takeoff-and-landing jet crashed at sea during what the Marine Corps said was a routine carrier landing-qualification exercise near San Clemente Island.
Staff Sgt. Tina Foglesong of the Marine Corps Air Station at Yuma, Ariz., said the pilot, whose name was not released, was not injured. He was picked up by a helicopter and returned to the aircraft carrier New Orleans, from which he was operating.
“The crash occurred when the pilot had difficulty during the takeoff phase,” Foglesong said. The carrier was not damaged in the 2 p.m. accident.
The pilot and plane were assigned to Marine Attack Squadron 311, stationed at the Yuma base.
The helicopter was coming down about 10:20 a.m. on a mountain landing site in Modjeska Canyon at the edge of the Cleveland National Forest, but no injuries were reported.
The extent of damage to the CH-53 Sea Stallion, flying out of the Marine Air Station in Tustin, had not been determined, Lt. Gene Brown said.
Military officials were investigating both accidents.
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