Things got scary in North Carolina this past Thursday when a U.S. Marine Corps aircraft ended up in a dangerous situation during a training exercise. An MV-22B Osprey, which had taken off from Marine Corps Air Station New River, suffered a hard landing that caused it to burst into flames near Bladen Lakes State Forest.
There were four service members on board at the time. Thankfully, all of them were taken in for medical evaluation. White Lake Fire Chief Dale Brennan told WECT that at least one of the Marines involved suffered burns and had to be rushed to a nearby clinic for care. Emergency teams from both the civilian and military sides scrambled to the scene to handle the aftermath.
This incident happened right in the middle of a scheduled training window at the base. Before the exercises started, officials over at nearby Camp Lejeune had actually warned locals to expect some extra noise, security checkpoints, and general emergency activity, but obviously, this wasn't the kind of action they were planning for.
Why it matters
It's giving a major L for safety during training drills, and any time an Osprey goes down, the aviation community pays close attention. With four people injured, the focus is currently on their recovery and figuring out exactly why that landing turned into such a disaster.
