You may remember the Marine jet that crashed into a house in San Diego last December. At the time, I had assumed that there was probably some sort of prohibition against flying a crippled aircraft over a highly populated area and that whatever happened to the jet happened while the pilot was already over this area.
Well, you know what they say about assuming things. Turns out that there was an alternative. Air control at North Island announced three times that the plane could land at North Island approaching over water rather than over a densely populated area. Several Marines were punished for this tragic error in judgment that resulted in four deaths when the jet crashed into the house.
Well, you know what they say about assuming things. Turns out that there was an alternative. Air control at North Island announced three times that the plane could land at North Island approaching over water rather than over a densely populated area. Several Marines were punished for this tragic error in judgment that resulted in four deaths when the jet crashed into the house.
Four officers at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego have been relieved of duty for directing the F/A-18D Hornet to fly over the residential area, the officials said. Nine other military personnel received lesser reprimands.
With his jet having engine problems, the pilot should have been told to fly over San Diego Bay and land at another base that sits on the tip of a peninsula, the officials said.
This incident was a terrible tragedy, costing a husband his wife, children, and mother-in-law. It is all the more tragic for having been preventable.
1 comment:
I was working construction out at Luke AFB near Phoenix AZ. An airforce jet had a catastrophic engine failure just after it took off. It landed in a alfalfa field. The pilot ejected safely.
There's a lot to say about keeping military bases such as this away from big cities.
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