PPRuNe Forums - F-18 down in San Diego

PPRuNe Forums (https://www.pprune.org/)

- Military Aviation (https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation-57/)

- - F-18 down in San Diego (https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/354048-f-18-down-san-diego.html)

F-18 down in San Diego

Pictures coming in of what is reported to be an F-18 which came down among houses in San Diego

Several houses badly damaged, not far from airport, but no casualties at moment and apparently there is someone stuck in a tree nearby who may be the pilot

Last report is pilot has been recovered alive, no civilian injuries on the ground.

US F-18 jet crashes in San Diego

Richard Bacon on Five Live has just reported that it narrowly avoided landing on a high school (and that the pilot landed under his parachute in the high school grounds).

I am *not* making this up! :D

BBC News at 2200 have just shown the pictures. :mad:!

Yea i just seen the aerial footage on the news there.. Good job by the pilot for avoiding the school!

Just saw the report on this on ITN.they didn't disappoint::rolleyes:

I heard the words 'plummet' and 'pilot desperately fighting to avoid a school',and:'locals have expected something like this with all the low flying'

Superb journo sh1te.

MM

Two confirmed fatalities at this moment.

San Diego Union Tribune

It is a little irresponsible journalism. The low flying comment doesn't count, the pilot was trying to get into Mirimar, which he nearly did, then when he couldn't make it he went for an empty canyon. Plane nosed over into the houses soon after ejection.

Link to local story:
F/A-18 crashes into San Diego neighborhood | L.A. Now | Los Angeles Times

Link to Google view of area, with crash site and pilot landing spot marked:
Google Maps

Quote:

...Good job by the pilot for avoiding the school!

________________

" You smile reading newspaper stories about a pilot in a disabled plane that maneuvered to miss a schoolyard before he hit the ground.

That's crap.

In an emergency situation, a pilot thinks only about one thing -- survival. You battle to survive right down to the ground; you think about nothing else. Your concentration is riveted on what to try next. You don't say anything on the radio, and you aren't even aware a schoolyard exists.

That's exactly how it is. "

[-- 'General Chuck Yeager' USAF]

{quoted from his autobiography "Yeager" ; 1985 Bantam Books, page 119}

News now reporting three dead.

From the LA Times, some selected highlights to be dissected:
Military jet crashes in San Diego neighborhood - Los Angeles Times

Quote:

By Tony Perry and Richard Marosi
6:33 PM PST, December 8, 2008

Reporting from San Diego -- It was meant to be a routine training mission: a young Marine pilot sharpening his skills flying an F/A-18D Hornet from the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln off the San Diego coast.

But as the plane had lifted off the carrier deck, the pilot quickly knew he was in trouble, possibly with a malfunction in one of the plane's engines. He radioed the air controller at Miramar, who ordered the emergency landing attempt.

As the plane crossed over land at Torrey Pines en route to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, more problems struck, possibly "flame-out" of a second engine. The plane lost altitude and began to wobble.

Residents of the University City neighborhood west of Miramar, accustomed to the sight of warplanes overhead, looked up and knew something was terribly wrong.

......

"It was mushing through the air," Kreischer said. "It was chugging along with what seemed like one engine. Then I heard a roar of engine and all of a sudden, whoop, dead silence.

.....

Marine officials said the pilot was part of a training squadron and that he was trying to aim the plane at a deserted canyon [see google map] to avoid slamming into homes or Interstate 805.

....

Military bomb specialists were combing the area for the second ejection seat, which has an explosive charge. Though the plane normally has a crew of two, only a pilot was aboard for the training mission. The plane was not carrying bombs, the Marines said.

....

Quote:

But as the plane had lifted off the carrier deck, the pilot quickly knew he was in trouble, possibly with a malfunction in one of the plane's engines. He radioed the air controller at Miramar, who ordered the emergency landing attempt.

Quite unhelpful reporting, however accurate/inaccurate. Makes me wonder why anyone would fly over a built up area with such a significant issue, when could have ejected safely out at sea. Not saying that is the case, just how this para reads.

Wish pilot and victims' families well.

Suggestions please

AIDU wrote

Quote:

Perhaps you need to retract your statement as it has been reported that two people have been killed in this incident. "Officials say the pilot ejected and landed on a high school baseball field". So not really a time to be having ago at the Journalists.

When would you suggest would be a more suitable time?
News of loss of life ( very sad development) changes nothing as far as the original reporting is concerned.
MM

Just received a PM from AIDU accusing me ( a lowly PPL) of delusions of being like ChucK Yeager ( I wish...) and this apparently disqualifies me from commenting on the mil forum,so goodbye,I am at this moment crawling back under my PPL stone.

MM

DelaneyT

Yeager might not have thought about anyone else but himself when the **** hit the fan, but there are plenty of documented cases of military pilots who have a) done exactly the opposite - considered the consequences of their a/c crashing into a populated area - and lived and b) done exactly the opposite and sadly died.

While this tendency for the media to say, 'Oh! He stayed with the jet a little longer to make sure he missed the orphanage' is irritating, selfless acts like these do actually happen on occasion.

Ground Victim Next of Kin -

The husband/father of the ground victims (two children, wife and mother-in-law) made an in-person statement to the media today. He ended the remarks asking that everyone pray for the pilot through this tough period. Despite the complete wipe-out of his family, he asked everyone to think about the pilot.