A MH-53E Sea Dragon from HM-15 during a mine sweeping exercise in 2007 (U.S. Navy)
UPDATE: The aircraft landed safely at HM-15 flightline at 10:55 p.m back at Naval Station Norfolk.
Newport News, Va. – On Thursday night, an MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopter assigned to HM-15 based in Norfolk made a precautionary landing at the Newport News Marine Terminal.
This happened at around 8 p.m. Officials say a few minutes after taking off from Naval Station Norfolk, the crew smelled fumes from the aircraft. The six crew members on board then landed the helicopter at the nearest suitable location.
Officials say they’ve ruled out a fuel leak and the smell was attributed to normal operation of the engines mixed with the rain.
Crews are there and the aircraft has been cleared and is now safe for flight.
No one was injured and the aircraft is safely on deck.
