Navy aircraft with 9 crew members crashes into water off Hawaii

Nov. 20 (UPI) -- A large U.S. Navy plane with nine crew members on board overshot its runway in Hawaii on Monday and crashed into the water, according to military officials who said there were no casualties.

All crew members managed to escape the P-8A Poseidon aircraft, after the crash water landing around 1:57 p.m. The plane was seen sitting upright in Kaneohe Bay off Marine Corps Base Hawaii on the island of Oahu.

"All nine passengers aboard the aircraft at the time of the incident are accounted for, and no injuries are reported," base spokesman Marine Maj. Jordan Fox said.

The Navy's P-8A Poseidon aircraft is a surveillance jet with the airframe of a Boeing 737 passenger plane, according to Marine Corps spokesperson 1st Lt. Hailey Harms.

The crew, assigned to Whidbey Island in Washington, was performing "routine training" at the time of the crash which is still under investigation.

According to aircraft expert Peter Forman, the runway at Kaneohe is shorter than most, while windy weather and poor visibility may have played a role.

"The pilot probably didn't put the plane down exactly where he wanted to on the runway," Forman said. "It's probably a combination of all those factors put together."

The National Weather Service said visibility was down to about a mile, with wind gusts up to 21 miles per hour at the time of the crash.