Spectators Injured As Military Helicopter Lands In SI Park

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CLOVE LAKES PARK, N.Y. (WPIX)

At lease nine people were injured Monday morning, unconfirmed reports say, when a military aircraft landed in a Staten Island park.

The MV-22 Osprey was part of the U.S. Marine's Memorial Day air/ground demonstration for a crowd of spectators in Clove Lakes Park, in celebration of Fleet Week.

The low-flying Osprey was coming in for a landing when it passed over a patch of trees just after 9 a.m.

The tiltrotor aircraft caused so much downward thrust that it blew down tree branches onto the unsuspecting spectators, who were sitting underneath it.

Conflicting reports say between five and nine people, including two children, are injured. Unconfirmed reports say most of the injuries are minor.

The Osprey was carrying a platoon of Marines, who deployed from the aircraft prior to the 9 a.m. demonstration in Staten Island.

Ospreys are a type of helicopter that are known for their their ability to conduct vertical takeoffs and landings. They fly twice as fast, carry three times the payload and has five times the range of a CH-46 helicopter.

According to the U.S. Marines, " the Osprey is up to 21 times less vulnerable to small arms fire and 75 percent quieter than helicopters, and the Osprey is the only U.S. tactical transport aircraft with designed-in radiological, biological, and chemical warfare protection."

Other aircrafts that part of Monday morning's demonstration are the AH-1W Super Cobra and CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters. The three aircrafts will be in Cloves Lake Park from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.