A downed U.S. Navy aircraft is seen in Kaneohe Bay, Monday, Nov. 20, 2023, in Kaneohe, Hawaii. (Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)
HONOLULU – A Navy plane flying in wet weather overshot a military base in Hawaii on Monday and crashed in Kaneohe Bay, but no one on board was injured, authorities said.
The Coast Guard responded, but the rescue was quickly called off, said Petty Officer Ryan Fisher, a Coast Guard spokesman. “It appears that all parties involved have been saved,” he said.
Marine spokesman Sgt. Orlando Perez had no information about what caused the P-8A to veer off the runway at a Marine Corps base in Hawaii.
A photo taken by witness Diane Dircks showed the plane in the water just off shore, reminiscent of the “Miracle on the Hudson” in 2009, when a passenger jet piloted by Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger made an emergency landing on the New York River. All 155 people on board survived.
The P-8A and Airbus A320 that Sullenberger flew are about the same size.
Dircks and her family had just returned to the dock after wet weather interrupted their pontoon cruise when her daughter spotted the plane in the water.
“We ran to the end of the dock and I took a few photos,” she said.
Dircks, who was visiting from Illinois, said her daughter had bird-watching binoculars with her so she could see the plane and arriving rescue boats.
“It was unbelievable,” she said.
The Honolulu Fire Department received a 911 call about the downed plane shortly after 2 p.m., spokesman Malcolm K. Medrano said in an email. It was cloudy and rainy then. Visibility was about a mile, said Thomas Vaughan, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu.
The P-8A is often used for submarine hunting and for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. It is manufactured by Boeing and shares many parts with the 737 commercial jet.
The plane belongs to Skinny Dragons of the 4th Patrol Squadron based on Whidbey Island, Washington. Patrol squadrons were once stationed at Kaneohe Bay, but now deploy to Hawaii on a rotational basis.
Marine Corps Base Hawaii is located approximately 10 miles from Honolulu, Oahu. There are approximately 9,300 soldiers and 5,100 family members at the base. It’s one of several key military installations on Oahu.
The base is located on Kaneohe Bay, which is home to coral reefs, a hammerhead shark hatchery, and the University of Hawaii’s Marine Biology Research Institute.
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