Nine Uninjured After US Navy Aircraft Overruns Runway in Hawaii, Official Reports

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On Monday, a U.S. Navy aircraft exceeded the length of a runway, ending up in a bay in Hawaii. Shayne Enright, a spokesperson for the Honolulu Emergency Medical Services Department, reported that upon their arrival at the scene, military representatives confirmed that all nine passengers on board had safely reached the shore without sustaining any injuries.

Petty Officer Ryan Fisher, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard, stated that the Coast Guard initiated a response, but the rescue efforts were quickly deemed unnecessary.

Fisher remarked, “It appears that everyone involved was successfully rescued.”

According to U.S. Marine Corps spokesperson Gunnery Sgt. Orlando Perez, the incident involved a P-8A aircraft at a Marine base in Kaneohe Bay. Perez did not provide additional details.

A photograph captured by a bystander shows the aircraft floating near the coast, evoking memories of the 2009 incident famously known as the “Miracle on the Hudson.” During that event, pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger successfully landed a commercial Airbus A320 on the Hudson River in New York, saving all 155 passengers on board.

The dimensions of the P-8A and Sullenberger’s Airbus A320 are comparable.

Diane Dircks, 61, along with her family, had just returned from a boating excursion cut short by rain when her daughter spotted the submerged plane.

“We hurried to the end of the dock, and I took some pictures,” Dircks recounted.

Soon after, they heard the sound of sirens from multiple directions.

Dircks, visiting from Illinois, mentioned that her daughter, an avid birdwatcher, used binoculars to observe the plane and the arriving rescue boats.

“It was an astonishing sight,” she expressed.

The weather conditions at the time of the accident included cloudiness and rain, reducing visibility to around 1 mile (1.6 kilometers), according to Thomas Vaughan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu.

The P-8A, a Boeing-manufactured aircraft, is primarily utilized for submarine tracking, reconnaissance, and intelligence gathering, sharing many components with the Boeing 737 commercial jet.

The aircraft is part of the “Skinny Dragons” of Patrol Squadron Four, based in Whidbey Island, Washington. Although patrol squadrons were historically stationed at Kaneohe Bay, they now operate in Hawaii on a rotational basis.

Marine Corps Base Hawaii, located roughly 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Honolulu on Oahu, hosts approximately 9,300 military personnel and 5,100 family members. It is one of the critical military facilities on the island.

The base overlooks Kaneohe Bay, known for its coral reefs, a breeding habitat for hammerhead sharks, and a marine biology research institute of the University of Hawaii.

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This report includes contributions from Jennifer Sinco Kelleher of Big Big News and Dupuy from New York City.

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• No Injuries in US Navy Plane Runway Overshoot
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