Aircraft Was Returning To Quantico, VA, From Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst

A Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter made an unscheduled landing Wednesday on the baseball field of a school in Medford, NJ.

The aircraft had taken off from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst at about 1000 EDT Wednesday, and developed a mechanical problem shortly after takeoff. The best available LZ for the aircraft was the baseball field at Chairville Elementary School, according to a report in the Courier-Post newspaper.

The CH-46 is attached to Marine Corps Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1), which is responsible for Presidential transport. President Obama was not on board the aircraft at the time of the forced landing, and the paper reports that the operation was not a presidential flight support mission.

First Lt. Agustin Cruz Solivan said that a second helicopter brought a detachment of Marines to the school to repair the aircraft, and it returned to Quantico without further incident.

President Obama had been in New Jersey Tuesday to tour areas that are still recovering from Superstorm Sandy last October.

(CH-46 Sea Knight image from file)

FMI: www.hqmc.marines.mil/hmx-1