Nine people onboard a U.S. Navy plane that overshot a runway while attempting to land at a Marine Corps base in Hawaii on Nov. 20 have survived, according to officials.
The P-8A Poseidon aircraft—a twin-engine multi-mission patrol and reconnaissance jet developed by Boeing—overshot the runway while attempting to land at the Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay on the island of Oahu at about 2 p.m. local time, according to a statement from Lt. Mohammad N. Issa, the deputy public affairs officer for the Third Fleet.
The Marine Corps Base in Hawaii is roughly 10 miles from Honolulu and houses about 9,300 military personnel and 5,100 family members. It is one of several key military installations on Oahu.
Officials said the aircraft, which has the same airframe and shares many parts with the Boeing 737 passenger jet, missed the runway and instead ended up in the nearby shallow waters of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
The Coast Guard responded to the incident but rescue operations were quickly called off after it became apparent that all those on board had survived, officials said.
Nine people were aboard the aircraft at the time of the incident but all were safely evacuated.
Video footage and images shared online show the plane lying in Kaneohe Bay with its wings just above the top of the water.
Lt. Hailey Harms, the base’s deputy director of public affairs, said the plane had been flying a routine training mission at the time it overshot the runway.
Conditions During Landing
The aircraft was still in the water as of late Monday afternoon. It is not yet clear which agencies will be working to remove the plane from the Kaneohe Bay.According to Boeing’s official website, the P-8 is about 130 feet long and 42 feet wide and can fly up to 41,000 feet at 490 knots.
The aircraft is mainly used to search for submarines, surface vessels, and rescue survivors but is also used to conduct reconnaissance and intelligence gathering.
“A proven system with more than 155 aircraft in service, the P-8 has executed more than 500,000 mishap free flight-hours around the globe,” Boeing’s official website states.
The plane belongs to the Skinny Dragons of Patrol Squadron Four stationed at Whidbey Island in Washington state.
The weather was cloudy and rainy at the time of the incident, while visibility was about 1 mile, according to Thomas Vaughan, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu.
“The pilot probably didn’t put the plane down exactly where he wanted to on the runway,” Mr. Forman said. “It’s probably a combination of all those factors put together.”
