A Marine Corps helicopter’s engine caught fire Friday, forcing its crew to make an emergency landing near Camp Pendleton in Southern California, the service said.
The CH-53E Super Stallion — the service’s primary heavy-lift helicopter — experienced an in-flight engine fire at 4:11 p.m. West Coast time. The aircraft “safely landed” in a landing zone on the base near Interstate 5 before it was engulfed in flames, according to the service.
The helicopter belonged to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. A spokesperson for the wing told Military.com on Friday evening that the four-person crew was safe with no injuries. Marine Corps and local emergency services responded to the scene to extinguish the fire, prompting authorities to urge the public to avoid the area.
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The California Highway Patrol posted images of the subsequent fire on social media Friday, noting that travelers should expect traffic delays in the area.
“Additional details will be shared as they become available,” 3rd MAW said in its statement. The cause of the fire is not currently known, Capt. Stephanie Davis, a spokesperson for 3rd MAW, told Military.com on Monday. A mishap board — a body meant to investigate crashes — was assigned on Friday, she said.
The Super Stallion belonged to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 466, Davis said.
The nearly 70-ton Super Stallion is the Marine Corps’ premier heavy-lift helicopter, known for rapidly transporting up to 55 troops and 16 tons of equipment from ship-to-shore and elsewhere, according to the service.
Late last year, Marine Corps officials told Military.com that the Super Stallion was one of several aircraft being used in lieu of the V-22 Osprey when the latter was grounded amid concerns over mechanical issues and pilot safety.
Between 2012 and 2023, the Super Stallion was involved in 16 “Class A” mishaps, Military.com previously reported; such mishaps are defined as an incident involving the aircraft that killed, permanently disabled a service member, or cost the military more than $2.5 million in damages.
In 2016, two of the helicopters crashed into each other off the coast of Hawaii, resulting in the deaths of 12 service members. In 2018, four Marines from 3rd MAW were killed when their Super Stallion crashed near El Centro, California.
In February this year — the last known fatal crash for the aircraft — five Marines from 3rd MAW were killed when their aircraft crashed near a mountain east of San Diego during a routine flight from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.
Marine Corps Times reported that the commander of the squadron the Marines belonged to was fired earlier this month for “loss of trust and confidence” nine months after the fatal crash. The investigation into that crash is ongoing, according to the publication.
In October, a CH-54E crashed on takeoff at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, according to Naval Safety Command data reviewed by Military.com. The aircraft was deemed “repairable” and “minor injuries” were reported, though the number of service members involved in the incident was not noted.
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