Both engines failed on a military jet fighter before the
aircraft crashed and burned in a San Diego neighborhood, a
congressional aide said Tuesday.
Three people were killed on the ground in Monday’s crash and a
child believed to be a year old was still missing.
SAN DIEGO
Both engines failed on a military jet fighter before the aircraft crashed and burned in a San Diego neighborhood, a congressional aide said Tuesday.
Three people were killed on the ground in Monday’s crash and a child believed to be a year old was still missing.
The aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because the information was not yet public, said the pilot of the twin-engine F/A-18D Hornet was attempting to land at the Miramar Marine base after his right engine malfunctioned.
The aide told The Associated Press that while the pilot was on final approach to the runway the aircraft also lost thrust from its left engine.
No official finding of the cause for the crash was given.
The pilot ejected safely before the jet crashed into a street about two miles from the base, as the pilot was returning from a training flight. He ended up suspended by his parachute in a tree. He was in stable condition and being treated at a hospital.
Investigators brought in a cadaver dog to help search for the child in the house where a mother, her baby and a grandmother were killed. The search had been suspended during the night.
Neighbors said the family of Korean immigrants moved into the area about three months ago.
Resident Choko McConnell, 85, a widow who lives down the street, said she often saw the grandmother pushing a child in a stroller.
“I cried all night,” McConnell said. “A family perished, a young family.”
McConnell was eating oatmeal when she heard the explosions. She grabbed a briefcase full of insurance papers and her passport and drove away.
“I saw people standing in the streets, bewildered and numb,” she said. “When I left, I said I didn’t think I’d see my house again.”
Amy Hegy, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, San Diego, said she spoke to the father of the children when he returned to the gutted home Monday night. Hegy said he was “calm” and stayed with friends. She also said he had extended family in San Diego but refused to reveal further details.
One other home was destroyed and three were damaged in the neighborhood of half-million-dollar houses.
The San Diego County Medical Examiner said it had tentatively identified each of the victims and was in contact with family members for confirmation. No names were released.
“It happened in a split second – boom, boom, boom,” said Alain Blanc, 64, a retired photographer who lives next to the destroyed homes and was working on his computer. “The whole house started shaking and rocking.”
Blanc heard what he thought were exploding propane tanks. Two neighbors said a pickup truck caught fire after running over flaming debris and the driver yelled that his gas tank was full as he fled the vehicle.
Terri Scheidt, who was wrapping Christmas presents, heard an “unbelievably loud” sound, followed by explosions. She ran around the corner and saw two homes engulfed in flames.
Someone led an older woman from one of the homes, “completely in shock,” Scheidt said.
Military aircraft frequently streak over the neighborhood, two miles from the base, but residents said the imperiled aircraft was flying extremely low.
Investigators will review information from a flight data recorder. There was no indication the pilot was using alcohol or drugs, military officials said.
Dawn Lyons spoke to the pilot just after he landed in the tree.
“I saw an incredibly composed person,” Lyons said. “He didn’t have any scrapes or bruises. He was very lucid.”
A piece of cockpit sat on the roof of one home, and a charred jet engine lay on the street. Authorities said the smoke wreckage was toxic and about 20 homes were evacuated.
A Marine Corps bomb disposal truck was brought to the neighborhood in the University City section of San Diego, although police assured residents there was no ordnance aboard the jet.
The Navy recently inspected hundreds of F/A-18 Hornets, built by Boeing Co., after discovering “fatigue cracks” on more than a dozen of them. The inspections looked for cracks in a hinge that connects the aileron – a flap that helps stabilize the jet in flight – to the wing.
The Navy announced last month it had grounded 10 of the $57 million fighters and placed flight restrictions on 20 more until repairs could be made.
The supersonic jet is widely used by the Marine Corps and Navy and by the stunt-flying Blue Angels. An F-18 crashed at Miramar – the setting for the movie “Top Gun” – in November 2006, and that pilot also ejected safely.
