MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Marines of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 166 teamed up with biologists to certify new landing sites aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., June 27.

VMM-166 landed on three different locations aboard Camp Pendleton while biologists observed the animals and environment surrounding it.

“It gives us more options and flexibility to have more landing zones on Camp Pendleton,” said Capt. Russell Maben, a pilot with VMM-166 and an Orlando, Fla., native. “Especially when working with ground troops, we can have a place to load and unload troops easily.”

Three sites were investigated by pilots to see if the sites would be safe and worthwhile to use. All of the sites, if approved, will be used for confined area landing training.

“You can never have too much practice for anything,” said Lance Cpl. Evin T. Haines, a crew chief with VMM-166 and a Houston native. “If the pilots land on the same zones all the time, the pilots can become complacent with them. No two places are exactly the same.”

Biologists from Camp Pendleton studied how wildlife would react to the aircraft landing to ensure that the environment and animal species would not be hurt while the zones were in use. Zones must be looked at not only for legal reasons, but the base is protected land for wildlife.

If training in new landing zones had any detrimental effect on the environment or the animals that live in it, the biologists wouldn’t allow it to happen, said Haines.

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