US Navy plane overshoots runway into ocean off Hawaii
A US Navy plane flying in rainy weather overshot a runway at a military base in Hawaii and splashed into Kaneohe Bay, authorities have said.
All nine people on board escaped without injury, the coast guard reported.
Petty Officer Ryan Fisher, a coast guard spokesperson, said a rescue operation was called off after “all parties involved” were accounted for.
All nine aboard were uninjured, authorities said (Photo: Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)
Honolulu Fire Department reported receiving the call at 2.06pm local time and sent several units to the scene, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
Weather conditions were cloudy and rainy at the time with visibility of about a mile, said Thomas Vaughan, a National Weather Service meteorologist in the Hawaiian capital.
The downed US Navy aircraft in Kaneohe Bay (Photo: Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)
It was unclear what caused the P-8A aircraft to go off the runway at Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Monday. The aircraft is often used to hunt for submarines and for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering.
The P-8A is manufactured by Boeing and shares many parts with the 737 commercial jet.
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A witness at the scene, Diane Dircks, 61, said she and her family had just returned to the dock after rainy weather cut their pontoon boat trip short when her daughter noticed the plane in the water.
“We went running over to the end of the dock, and I took some pictures,” she told Associated Press.
Ms Dircks, who is visiting from Illinois, said her daughter keeps a pair of binoculars on her for birdwatching, so she was able to see the plane and the rescue boats arriving.
“It was unbelievable,” she said.
Marine Corps Base Hawaii, about 10 miles from Honolulu, houses about 9,300 military personnel and 5,100 family members. It is one of several key military installations on Oahu island.
The incident comes after a string of US military jet crashes during training exercises. In September, a pilot escaped unharmed from a F-35 jet that crashed in South Carolina, at the time the third “Class-A mishap” in six weeks.