Sunday’s crash of an MV-22 Osprey aircraft at Bellows Air Force Station in Waimanalo is stirring long-standing safety concerns for residents and visitors, including beachgoers and campers.
The crash took the life of one Marine during what military officials say was a routine training exercise. He was identified Monday night as Lance Cpl. Joshua E. Barron, 24, of Spokane, Wash.
Twenty-one other servicemen aboard the aircraft sustained varying injuries and were sent to Oahu hospitals. One Marine remained in critical condition Monday, and three others remained hospitalized in stable condition.
Sixteen Marines — the pilot and co-pilot among them — and one Navy corpsman were released from the hospital, Capt. Brian Block, a Marine Corps spokesman, said Monday.
The crash occurred at 11:40 a.m. Sunday at the military recreation and training area known for its white-sand beaches — some open to the public on weekends. During the week the air station’s cabins and campsites are open to active-duty and retired military and Department of Defense employees.
Rep. Chris Lee (D, Kailua-Waimanalo) said that for many years now the Waimanalo and Kailua communities have expressed concerns about Bellows, particularly the noise from training, and matters tied to ingress and egress.
"But you have situations like this with loss of life, and this raises concerns of not only the safety of military officers and those involved, but for the community."
He said this calls into question training in the area.
"Are there going to be changes to the procedures for aerial training" to ensure the safety of the community? he asked. "Is there a need for changes in procedures in the future so an accident like this doesn’t happen again or doesn’t occur over a residential neighborhood or in a populated area?"
The Osprey that crashed was one of five that had taken off from the USS Essex, a Navy ship that was 100 miles offshore, and were flying to Bellows to drop off infantry Marines.
All five aircraft were coming in at the same time, which is typical, said Capt. Brian Block, a spokesman for the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is based at Camp Pendleton in California. "It was challenging but something that we do on a regular basis. There was nothing out of the norm."
"They loaded the Marines while aboard the Essex … and flew into the training area where they were going to drop off the Marines," Block said.
Training in Hawaii "was a little bit abnormal for the MEU," Block said. The unit typically trains in San Diego, but "we stopped here in Hawaii to train so that our skills don’t degrade as we move across the Pacific toward the Middle East."
Block said the unit secured permission from Bellows and Marine Corps Base Hawaii officials for the training exercise. "There are no restrictions on training anywhere other than the beach," he said.
The unit resumed training Monday, with more landing team members coming ashore by hovercraft, amphibious assault vehicles and landing craft.
The remaining Ospreys were not grounded. On Monday two Ospreys flew during training, and one that remained ashore Sunday was expected to return to the ship, Block said.
"Anytime we do training, we do it as safely as possible for our Marines and for the public," he said.
"This is training, but with a heavy heart that we’ve lost a member of our family, but we still have a job to do."
The Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which can take off and land like a helicopter but fly like an airplane, had what the Marines said in an initial statement was a "hard-landing mishap."
There were 22 people aboard — 21 Marines and one Navy corpsman assigned to the unit.
The 15th MEU’s sustainment training exercises are expected to conclude Thursday, before the deployment continues, Block said.
The crash took place in a flat landing zone area known as "LZ Gull," about 1,000 to 2,000 yards from the entrance to the Air Force station, which is next to the public beach area. The Osprey was destroyed.
Two squadrons of Ospreys with 24 aircraft will be based at Kaneohe Bay beginning this year.
Kimberly Hynd told the Associated Press that she was hiking the popular Lanikai Pillbox Trail and could see three Ospreys performing maneuvers from her vantage point on the hill above the base.
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.
Donald Gahit told the Associated Press that he looked outside his house after hearing sirens pass by and saw smoke rising from the air station. "At first I thought it was clouds, but it was moving fast and it was pretty dark," the Waimanalo resident said.
Ospreys may be equipped with radar, lasers and a missile defense system, and 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, the AP wrote.
The aircraft have since been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Some Osprey also are helping with earthquake relief efforts in Nepal.
