Military plane drops cargo load over North Carolina neighborhood, officials say

CAMERON, N.C. -- A C-17 military plane dropped a Humvee prematurely over a neighborhood in Harnett County Wednesday afternoon, Fort Bragg officials confirmed.

The neighborhood is in the town of Cameron. This incident occurred around 1 p.m. during a training exercise.

"A load of some kind was released early and we're looking into how it happened," said Michael Novogradac, a spokesman for the USArmy's Operational Test Command.

The C-17 aircraft carries supplies and equipment into war zones and, on Wednesday, the special operations team was practicing that type of scenario when the accident happened.

Only two items were aboard the aircraft, which was flying at about 1,500 feet in altitude -- the Humvee and a new heavy drop platform.

About a mile from the drop zone at Fort Bragg, the platform went out the back of the C-17.

"Everything went as planned except for the early release," said Fort Bragg spokesperson Tom McCollum.

The three parachutes attached to the Humvee deployed properly.

The C-17 Globemaster III was from the 437th airlift wing based at Joint Base Charleston

The incident is under investigation.