Crash unnerves San Diego neighborhood

[unhappycamper]

Crash unnerves San Diego neighborhood
By Elliot Spagat - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Dec 12, 2008 17:12:26 EST

SAN DIEGO — The Marine Corps renewed its promise to thoroughly investigate why a fighter jet crashed into a home and killed four people, but its pledge failed to appease some residents in the crowded neighborhood where the F/A-18D Hornet burst into flames.

Col. Christopher O’Connor, the commanding officer of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, told about 300 residents at a community meeting Thursday night that the military would “get to the bottom of this horrible tragedy” but he gave no timeline.

He said the military constantly reviews procedures but wasn’t more specific when residents pressed him to explain why a hobbled aircraft would be permitted to fly over homes.

The pilot reported the twin-engine plane was having trouble over the ocean and was given a “direct route” to Miramar, O’Connor said. The FA18, he said, “is designed and flies safely on a single engine.”

The pilot, who safely ejected, was “within seconds” of crashing the jet into an uninhabited canyon, O’Connor said. “He waited ‘til the absolute last minute before it would have killed him as well.”


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_f18_crash_121208/%2e