(RightWing.org) – A Navy anti-submarine aircraft ended up in the sea off Hawaii recently after a landing accident. The aircraft, a Boeing P-8A, carried a crew of nine. All of them were rescued unharmed.
Around 2 p.m. on November 20, a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft of Patrol Squadron 4 (VP-4), the “Skinny Dragons,” came in for a landing at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The weather was rainy and visibility poor, at about one mile, which may have contributed to what happened next.
Instead of landing safely, the 63-ton patrol plane failed to stop, overshot the end of the runway, and splashed into Kaneohe Bay. It ended up beached in shallow water, less than its own length from the shore. It’s likely the plane had already slowed almost to a stop when it ran out of runway and fell into the sea.
Astonished tourists, including some who had boat trips cut short by the weather, saw rescuers head out to the huge white aircraft to collect the crew, who all survived the accident. Gunnery Sergeant Orlando Perez, a spokesman for the Marine base, told reporters he had no information on what caused the accident.
The P-8A is the backbone of the US Navy’s anti-submarine force. Based on the Boeing 737 airliner, it’s fitted with advanced search radar to detect surface targets and can carry up to 129 disposable sonar buoys to listen for submarines. If it finds a hostile target it can then attack with five Mk 54 lightweight homing torpedoes or four Harpoon or LRASM anti-ship missiles.
The Navy operates more than 130 P-8As in 16 regular and two reserve squadrons out of three Naval Air Stations — Jacksonville (FL), Patuxent River (MD), and Whidbey Island (WA). VP-4 is based at Whidbey Island and, like other squadrons, rotates through Marine Corps Base Hawaii to provide anti-submarine cover in the western Pacific. The base used to have its own resident patrol squadron, but defense cuts have brought all the P-8As back to those three bases on the US mainland.
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