A military Osprey caught fire and hard-landed Thursday morning in Bladen Lakes State Forest, near Elizabethtown, North Carolina, with four Marines aboard. One of them suffered burns and was flown by helicopter to a burn center, while fire crews from as many as seven departments rushed to the remote training site to battle the blaze.
The aircraft went down near the Pappy Tatum landing zone in the central portion of the forest, according to an N.C. Forest Service official cited by CBS17.com. The injured Marine was transported by helicopter to the UNC Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill for treatment, according to WWAY News. A fire official told the station the Osprey was carrying roughly 6,000 pounds of jet fuel at the time of the incident, and that approximately six to seven fire departments responded to the scene.
The crew was confirmed to be from Camp Lejeune, as reported by WECT. Accounts differ on what happened to the three other Marines aboard: WECT reported that the three uninjured Marines were on a flight back to base, while WWAY News reported that the other three were not injured and remained at the scene. Both the cause of the incident and the extent of the injured Marine's burns had not been confirmed as of Thursday, per the same WWAY report.
A Forest Built for Osprey Training
The hard landing happened near Sweet Home Church Road, in an area where Marine pilots routinely conduct takeoff and landing training, WWAY News noted. Bladen Lakes State Forest includes several designated landing zones for military aircraft, a longstanding arrangement that stems from a lease agreement providing two 23-acre landing zones specifically for MV-22 Ospreys, according to the Bladen Journal. Those zones let Marine Corps aircrews practice low-altitude pattern work away from the busier airspace over Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River, the outlet reported.
The V-22 Osprey, a tilt-rotor aircraft flown by the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, has drawn sustained scrutiny over its safety record. A Navy vice admiral has tracked 64 fatalities and 93 injuries connected to the program.
Osprey Safety Under Scrutiny
A fatal Air Force CV-22 crash off Japan killed eight Airmen, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported. That mishap and others contributed to a monthslong grounding of the military's entire Osprey fleet, the outlet noted.
Lawmakers have pressed the Pentagon for more transparency on the aircraft's track record. The House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border and Foreign Affairs held an oversight hearing in June 2024 into the Osprey's safety record and the Pentagon's management of the program. At the June 12, 2024, hearing, a Navy vice admiral testified he was tracking 64 fatalities and 93 injuries connected to the program.
Fire crews were securing the area, and a fire was still burning when the chief spoke, WWAY reported. The cause of the Bladen County incident remains under review, with no additional information released on the aircraft's condition or the full extent of the injured Marine's burns.
