This is a very unfortunate event. The pilot escaped but there is no word about casualties on the ground. Military jet crashes in San Diego neighborhood - CNN.com
A not uncommon event around San Diego. Years ago, I happened top be riding with a friend on the freeway there when I glanced out at the ocean. An object was falling out of the sky; as I watched, there was a puff of smoke and another object detached from the first. It turned out to be a pilot ejecting from his aircraft. Two US Navy jets had collided just offshore, I never saw the other one, but both pilots managed to eject, and were picked up by fishing boats and taken ashore.
This jet business is inherently dangerous, for good reason there are more airplanes in the ocean than there are submarines in the sky...
Girl's body pulled from jet fighter crash site - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Girl's body pulled from jet fighter crash site Search teams found the toddler's body a day after the F/A-18 fighter crashed. Search teams found the toddler's body a day after the F/A-18 fighter crashed. (AFP: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images) The body of a 15-month-old girl has been recovered from the charred rubble of a California home destroyed when a US military jet slammed into it, raising the accident's death toll to four. Search teams found the toddler's body a day after the F/A-18 fighter crashed in the densely-populated San Diego neighbourhood of University City. Two houses were destroyed and three others damaged in the crash, which claimed the lives of three generations of one family. The pilot of the aircraft, which had been taking part in a training exercise and was approaching the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar when it crashed, ejected safely and landed in the grounds of a nearby school. The four dead included a 36-year-old nurse, her infant daughters aged 15 months and two months, and the woman's mother, who had recently arrived in the United States from South Korea to help look after her grandchildren. Authorities have not released the names of the victims. The woman's husband was at work when the crash occurred, reports said. The South Korean Yonhap news agency reported the two adult victims were South Korean nationals. Military officials blamed the crash on an equipment malfunction. "We don't know exactly what was the cause of the problem he was having, and ... we will be conducting a thorough safety investigation to find that out," Marine Corps Colonel Chris O'Connor told reporters on Monday. Jason Widmer, a contractor working in the neighbourhood at the time of the crash, said the pilot had reported a power failure on board the F/A-18 plane, a model which is usually renowned for its reliability. "The first thing he said to me, even before he said, 'I'm OK,' he said, 'I hope I didn't kill anybody'." "He said he was powerless," Mr Widmer said. "He said he stayed with the bird as long as he could."
my God, what a tragedy.....I just can't imagine that happening....To all involved.....About 10-15 years ago a F16 crashed in a Dutch village...which was close to the air base it was from. Actually the pilot lived in the village. He bailed out, walked to his home and had his wife drive him to the base. Although the plane crashed in a residential area, nobody was even hurt then.....
This story is heartbreaking.... Man who lost family when jet hit house: I don't blame pilot - CNN.com
Military: Deadly California F-18 Crash Was 'Clearly Avoidable' Tuesday, March 03, 2009 SAN DIEGO — A military jet crash that resulted in the death of four people and the destruction of two San Diego homes was "clearly avoidable," military officials said in a press conference Tuesday. "The tragedy that occurred on the 8th of December was caused by mechanical malfunctions on two different engines ... which presented the pilot with a complex emergency compounded by well-intended but incorrect decisions which ultimately resulted in the fuel starvation of the aircraft's remaining engine.," said Col. John Rupp, operations officer for the 3D Marine Aircraft Wing in San Diego. Click to see photos. Among those incorrect decisions, Rupp said, was the decision by maintenance crews to allow the aircraft to fly despite reports of a problem with its fuel flow; the decision by the pilot to try to land at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego rather than the nearby Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado despite losing function of the jet's right engine; and a series of miscommunications and bad assumptions by the pilot and officers directing him that eventually caused the left engine to "flame out." Upon realizing he could no longer control the aircraft the pilot ejected safely. The plane went on to crash into the University City neighborhood killing four members of a Korean family in their home — Young Mi Yoon, 36; her daughters Grace, 15 months, and Rachel, 2 months; and her mother Suk Im Kim, 60 — and incinerating two homes and damaging three others. Officials in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday that 13 Marine Corps personnel have been disciplined for errors in connection with the crash. Service officials told members of Congress that four Marine Corps officers have been relieved of duty for directing the Hornet to fly over the residential area. Nine other military personnel received lesser reprimands. Officials said the pilot should have been told to fly over San Diego Bay and land at Coronado. Rupp said the pilot stayed in the aircraft "until the possible minute" and tried — and almost succeeded — to divert the aircraft to a nearby canyon "in an attempt to save lives." Despite mistakes made, Assistant Wing Commander Major Gen. Randolphe Alles said, "There is no evidence of criminal wrong doing." Rupp said the military has made various adjustments, including the implementation of new maintenance procedures and new training procedures, in an effort to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again. FOXNews.com - Military: Deadly California F-18 Crash Was 'Clearly Avoidable' - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
