A 1-year-old girl and an elderly man were among 10 spectators injured yesterday at a Memorial Day flight demonstration on Staten Island when the rotor blast from a landing Marine aircraft caused heavy tree branches to rain down on the crowd.
The MV-22 Bravo Osprey — a hybrid that flies like a plane but lands vertically like a helicopter — was descending at Clove Lakes Park when it began whipping up fierce gusts.
“We came in over the trees and the next thing I see is a Tennessee Titans blanket blowing up in the air, and that made me think something was below,” said the pilot, Marine Capt. Michael Henson. “And I looked down and there were some people walking away.”
The branches landed on a group of spectators watching from the shade of the trees lining the field where the craft was landing.
“I felt something hit me in the back and knock me down, and it just blew me along the ground,” said John Wilson, 72, an Air Force vet who was among the injured
“I looked back, and it looked like I’d been dragged about 30 feet. It’s a memorable Memorial Day.”
In the air, the crew was not aware that the rotors had shaken loose the tree branches until the Osprey was on the ground, according to Marine Lt. Lauren Schulz, who was on board.
“We noticed nothing out of the ordinary,” she told The Post. “It was probably one of the best landings I’ve been on.”
Seven injured spectators — including the 1-year-old, Katie Gasser and two other children — were taken to Richmond University Medical Center with cuts and bruises. No one was seriously hurt.
“It was pretty scary. I was trying to hold on to the stroller, and I got dragged,” said Katie’s mom, Jenny, who also was hurt. “I was concerned that [Katie] was badly injured, and I couldn’t find my other kids.”
Jenny Gasser needed several stitches on her knee, and Katie suffered a nasty scrape on her foot.
Earlier, two Black Hawk helicopters and a larger Chinook helicopter had landed without incident.
“The double-propeller helicopter was coming directly over us. There was a point when it got directly on top of us and kicked up all this wind,” said Sal D’Alessio, 35, who was whacked in the back of the head by a branch.
“Then branches came directly on top of me and everyone else under the tree,” added D’Alessio, who needed seven stitches. “People were getting physically thrown.”
Keith Carlson, another spectator, called the force “incredible.
“It was like two tornadoes,” he said.
The Marines Corps said it would conduct an investigation into the incident.
Ospreys cost $68 million apiece. They became infamous over the years for cost overruns in their development, which included a number of high-profile crashes during the 1990s.
“We are very fortunate that no one was hurt seriously” yesterday Marine Col. Eric Smith said.