HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. Navy plans to use inflatable cylinders to lift and roll a jet plane off a coral reef in Hawaii before removal from the ocean waters where the aircraft crashed on Nov. 20.
Rear Adm. Kevin Lenox, the commander of Carrier Strike Group 3 who is leading the salvage effort, said Friday he is confident the operation can be carried out without further damaging the reef.
The P-8A slammed into an environmentally sensitive bay about 10 miles from Honolulu when it overshot the runway at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. None of the nine people on board at the time were injured. The Navy is investigating the mishap.
The Navy released underwater video on Wednesday showing landing gear wheels resting on parts of crushed coral and much of the rest of the plane floating above the reef in Kaneohe Bay.
A Navy team already has removed nearly all of the estimated 2,000 gallons of fuel that was on the aircraft.
Lenox said he expected the removal operation to get underway on Saturday. He didn’t want to commit to a date when the work would be done given the weather and other conditions that could affect the timeline.
Contractors began sliding the bags under the plane on Friday. When inflated, the bags will float across the water toward the runway. When they reach land, machines will pull and roll them onto and across the runway.
Lenox said it’s possible one of the bags may touch a small band of coral but that is not…
