[Ray Dunakin]

An F18 just crashed up the street from our house!!! I heard a small boom of the ejection, and a huge boom of the plane's impact, and ran outside to see fire and smoke all over the street about two blocks from us!! There were smaller booms that kept going off as the fire burned.


Someone spotted a parachute in the canyon and me and a few other guys tried to find the pilot. The chute was all tangled and the ejection seat was dirty, didn't really look like anyone had been in it. We searched all over the hillside but could find no sign of him.


At least one house is on fire and several cars are destroyed.

 

[wchasr]

I just saw the headline on Yahoo news! WOW! Glad you are Ok!

Chas

 

[Ray Dunakin]

From the aerial views on the news, it looks like the plane hit a house and then the debris ended up in the middle of the street.

 

[vsmith]

Glad your safe Ray, but someones life just got ruined. It could easily have been you.

Radio said the pilot ejected safely, sure as s**t hope no-one was in that house, they'll be **** to pay as it is for ditching a plane over a residential area and destroying someones house.

Is it just me or does ejecting from a plane full of fuel and maybe weapons over a residential neighborhood seams almost criminally negligent?

What if the plane hit a school for Christs sake? Pilots safe, oohh Kay...but did he think about what happens when the flippin plane hits the ground?

As I said, Theres gonna be big time **** to pay...these incidents never go well with the public. I can already hear the questions in the Official Inquiry...Was the plane on fire?, falling apart in air? could he have made it back to base? why at the least didn't the pilot try to glide the plane to a safe clear area before ejecting?

Get ready for a s**t-storm folks

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Happens quite frequently here in San Diego. I was working in Sorrento Valley (west end of the base) when a jet crashed into a building there. Luckily no one hurt, but took a large chunk out of a business building on a Sunday.

Looks like the guy thought he might make it back to the base. There were reports that he had raised and lowered the gear several times. The pilot is fine.

Regards, Greg

 

[Mark L Horstead]

An ejection is an absolutely last-ditch thing to do, once all other options have been ruled out (often a very speedy ruling-out) and there is no choice. Nobody wants to leave an aircraft and trust the escape system, regardless of what the aircraft's over. And the last thing that anybody wants is to have one go down in a built-up area.

If he had to punch out, that aircraft was going down anyway. Riding it in wouldn't have helped anybody, or their house.

 

[Torby]

Yikes!

FoxNews says 2 dead.

 

[vsmith]

I do understand all that about being the last option, but I also know that the general public doesnt, if I'm flying a Piper Bonanza and I get hit by that cruise missle AKA a seagull and lose my engine, I'm going down, I dont have any ejection seat to punch out with, I'd have to guide the beast down as best I could and try to glide down to a safe place to crashland, even if it killed me. Military concludes that saving the pilots life is preferable to training a new one, so they will punch out when told to or when there judgement tells them its time to go or buy the farm, knowing the plane could kill people on the ground. Joe Public dont get that, like I said. once the smoke clears, get ready for the screaming masses and one hellova s**t storm.

 

[vsmith]

Posted By Torby on 12/08/2008 4:12 PM
Yikes!

FoxNews says 2 dead.


Shiii-it! thats the end of that pilots career...yes it does happen that way.

2 dead? Forget the s**t storm, s**t hurricane now....heads will role, regardless of fault.

 

[McGinty26]

A buddy of mine who flew A6's off the JFK told me jets cant do a control glide like a prop job because they're not an aerodynamic instrument, that its the power of the engine that is 75% for keeping it aloft. I'm sure there are more than enough"experts" on this forum that will let us in on the whole story.

Meanwhile, I'm gonna say a prayer for the deceased and their families.

Pat McCarty

 

[jlinde]

As an amateur (and not very current) pilot, I'm not going to opine on what the F-18 driver should have done. I wasn't there - I wasn't strapped into that seat when the engine sh*t the bed (or whatever happened) and I sure as heck haven't ever had to make that kind of split second decision. And, yes, his career is in a ton of hurt. But if the investigation finds he was basically faultless, he may get to fly again.

 

[vsmith]

Posted By jlinde on 12/08/2008 4:45 PM
And, yes, his career is in a ton of hurt. But if the investigation finds he was basically faultless, he may get to fly again.


True, but these incidents do tend to follow a pilots career all there lives especially when theres deaths involved. Pilots have been known to have there careers stall just for losing a plane even when its technically not their fault, when theres deaths involved... its like an Albatros around the neck.

Just heard on the news, one woman and a kid were killed, another person and another kid are also missing.

 

[jlinde]

vsmith - under the circumstances, I've got to agree that things look pretty bad for his career. Even if he gets cleared, he'll always be the guy who killed a family. Still, the worst part will be the inevitable guilt and emotional pain. It's just a terrible thing for all involved.

 

[Torby]

Imagine the guilt, second guessing and event replaying that poor guy's going to suffer the rest of his life.

 

[vsmith]

I do know that when incidents like this occur, the parties involved are very likely to hang up the saddle and retire to the chicken farm. It's one thing when only property is lost in an incident, easier to get around emotionally, but when theres an unintentional death involved, thats another thing entirely.

 

[aceinspp]

Glade your ok Ray. The statement from Greg happen often concerns me. Sounds like major problems need to be addressed. Looks like some more govt cover up. Later RJD

 

[Ray Dunakin]

A very tragic day, I feel so sad for the folks who lost their homes and loved ones. And I feel bad for the pilot who will have to live with this, whether it's his fault or not. From all eyewitness reports it appears the plane had some kind of serious mechanical problem. Riding it into the ground would only add his life to the toll and is unlikely to have saved anyone.

As for the subject of crashes, they are inevitable. If you live near an airport or airbase or under any kind of flight path long enough, stuff's going to happen. No coverup involved -- the airbase has been here for decades so naturally there have been other crashes over the years. They aren't frequent but they do happen.

There has also been numerous crashes over years, of small planes out of the general aviation field a few miles to the south. Some of those have killed people on the ground too.

And if the military ever moved out of Miramar, the city would swoop down on it and turn it into a replacement for Lindbergh Field. Then it would be passenger jets crashing into neighborhoods instead of military jets. Personally I'd rather take my chances with the military.

 

[vsmith]

news says pilot radiod trouble was trying to reach a canyon, didnt make it before engines quit. Witnesses on ground said plane had no sound as it fell, pilot punched out very close to ground, so close one witness said he saw pilot eject and then watched the canopy crash landed in a backyard.

Very bad day for all involved, 4 on ground suspected dead, 3 confirmed, 1 still missing, a woman, her two kids and a grandmother.

 

[Mike Reilley]

One benefit of being retired...is that you get to watch this stuff on live TV....and the idiot reporters trying to report ANYTHING factual. Here's the deal...

a. Pilot launched from USS Abe Lincoln....lost an engine after the cat stroke. The other engine was running fine at that time. He declared an emergency...and probably went through a whole bunch of engine restart procedures...which didn't work.
b. He was 100 miles or so out to sea.
c. He had sufficient fuel to make it to his bingo field....Miramar MCAS.
d. It's safer to land with one engine at a land base...than on a carrier because you cannot execute a go around (missed landing) on a carrier on one engine.
e. He was making a backwards, straight in landing at MCAS Miramar...going east. There was virtually no wind, so this makes no difference to the plane...but it can to a pilot used to landing FROM the east.
f. He dropped his landing gear in preparation for landing.
g. There were reports of loud bangs from the plane...whether these were compressor stalls from an overtasked engine on a plane that was dirtied up...or the sound of the ejection seat going, hasn't been stated yet...but there were "bangs" from the plane.
h. The plane lost power in the good engine...and the plane began brick mode flight...which is what any F18 does with no power.
i. Pilot "steered" the plane toward the canyon between the railroad track and the high school. With no engine running...control is impossible as the hydraulic pumps are shut down...and certainly he had no time to deploy his backup pump. The plane hit about 200' short of the canyon...on a street.
j. Pilot punched out at LOW altitude...landed about 600 ft from where the plane impacted.
k. Plane hit in the middle of the street...slid through one house...and out the other side and stoppd in the middle of another street. A second house was damaged as well. Then it all burned.
m. At least three people died in the house the jet slid through...maybe a fourth.
n. Pilot talked to an retired Navy F14 pilot that had come to his "rescue" after seeing the parachute open. The pilot was on his cell phone calling his squadron to report that he was OK and that he's crashed, etc. He was not hurt seriously.
o. TV news reporters proved their total worthlessness once again...demonstrating once again, they know NOTHING about the military...or it's equipment...or it's procedures...right here in San Diego...the biggest military town in the whole United States.

 

[Dwight Ennis]

demonstrating once again, they know NOTHING about the military...or it's equipment...or it's procedures...
But they sure like to PRETEND they do don't they? Monday Morning Quarterbacks, the lot of 'em, especially when there's someone/something they can crucify.

Glad you guys are okay. My heart goes out to the families and military personnel involved. Christmas will never be the same for any of them again.