THE PENTAGON — Defense Department officials stressed that military aviation was "not a crisis" just hours after presidential helicopter Marine One crashed into the The White House, sources confirmed today.

The latest in a string of aircraft mishaps happened late Monday, when a Sikorsky VH-60N helicopter operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) crashed directly into the largest room of the White House, the reception and event space known as the East Room, though officials claimed it was merely a "hard landing" — not a crash that obliterated the aircraft, most of the building's walls, and ignited fire and smoke that could be seen from as far away as Pittsburgh.

Speaking from the Pentagon parking lot to reporters as smoke clouds billowed in the background, Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said that each aviation mishap was separate and had different contributing factors, stressing that there was no trend to be found amid a new high of fatal military aviation accidents in six years.