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Helicopter "Hard Landing" at Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI) - 4 Injured

Note: More information will be posted as it becomes available.

Coronado, Calif. – A Navy MH-60R helicopter assigned to HSM-75 suffered a hard landing while conducting routine training on Naval Air Station North Island, Dec. 12 at approximately 11 p.m.

The Navy helicopter was operated by four HSM-75 aircrew personnel. Two of the aircrew personnel were taken to UCSD Medical Center and the other two were taken to Scripps Mercy Hospital.

An aircraft mishap investigation is ongoing. Additional details will be provided as soon as they become available.

Release from Naval Base Coronado

North Island Naval Air Station — A helicopter crashed at North Island Naval Air Station late Wednesday night, injuring four crew members on board, authorities said.

An MH-60R Seahawk made what was described as a hard landing, Navy spokesman Lt. Aaron Kakiel said. The Navy is likely to view this as a Class A mishap, he said, which indicates that the damage to the aircraft was significant.

Coronado police were notified of the crash about 11:14 p.m.

Read the entire UT story here.

This photo was taken by eCoronado's Ron Artiques in Imperial Beach (2011).

File image (eCoronado.com)

Tags: community, military

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Comment by Peter L. Fagan on December 13, 2012 at 8:11am: I’m sure we all hope that there were no serious injuries from what appears to be an aircraft mishap.

There seems to be a lot of “spin” on the semantics of what this event was. References to “crash” or “hard landing” are terms not defined in military instructions. For those trying to minimize the event, perhaps they prefer the term “hard landing”. The below definition is taken from Department of Defense Instruction 6055.7, which is promulgated in Navy instructions. Note that there is no reference to whether an event is a “hard landing” or “crash”. I guess that if you slammed your car into a solid block wall, you could say you experienced a “hard stop”.

We will have to await more details of what happened to properly define the event. Meanwhile, I would hope that those reporting the details do so without all of the “spin”, and that those involved are OK.

DoD mishap. An unplanned event or series of events that results in damage to DoD property; occupational illness to DoD personnel; injury to on- or off-duty DoD military personnel; injury to on-duty DoD civilian personnel; or damage to public or private property, or injury or illness to non-DoD personnel, caused by DoD activities.

Class A mishap. The resulting total cost of damages to Government and other property is $2 million or more, a DoD aircraft is destroyed (excluding UAS Groups 1, 2, or 3), or an injury or occupational illness results in a fatality or permanent total disability.

Class B mishap. The resulting total cost of damages to Government and other property is $500,000 or more, but less than $2 million. An injury or occupational illness results in permanent partial disability, or when three or more personnel are hospitalized for inpatient care (which, for mishap reporting purposes only, does not include just observation or diagnostic care) as a result of a single mishap.

Class C mishap. The resulting total cost of property damages to Government and other property is $50,000 or more, but less than $500,000; or a nonfatal injury or illness that results in 1 or more days away from work, not including the day of the injury.

Class D mishap. The resulting total cost of property damage is $20,000 or more, but less than $50,000; or a recordable injury or illness not otherwise classified as a Class A, B, or C mishap.

GLOSSARY 45 DoDI 6055.07, June 6, 2011

Comment by eCoronado on December 13, 2012 at 8:30am: Thanks Peter. This story was originally posted before getting the release from the Navy. We have added their release, modified the title to "hard landing" and added a photo of a similar helicopter from an eCoronado.com member. Thanks for your comment.