F/A-18 crashes in San Diego

[e34john]

I wouldn't have ejected. gonna have to die trying to save it rather then living and knowing that innocent people were killed. woulda touched that thing down on the 15 and hog up the fast lane and basically all the lanes next to it.

[e30sd]

looked like was lined up perfectly with rose canyon, and sadly he was like a mile away from the west end of MCAS miramar which wouldve been great.

[mtechnik]

Two dead on the ground as of 51 min ago.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/12/08/military.jet.crash/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

Also, two loud pops, presumably one from the burners going out, and one from smacking the ground.

Was so glad to read up to an hour ago that there were no apparent casualties.:(

[MoparJ]

I saw the smoke coming up from the Miramar area while I was at work; I didn't even know what happened until around a half-hour later. They had to re-route some of our delivery drivers, and traffic was pretty jacked up.

I am familiar with F-18's as I worked on them in the Navy; if the pilot experienced a dual-engine flameout there isn't a damn thing he could have done. I heard someone say that there was possibly full hydraulics failure which would make that thing almost impossible to control at that altitude. It would be like trying to performance-drive a 70's Cadillac with power nothing.

I truly feel sorry for that pilot; I can't imagine having to make a decision like that and later finding out that people died.

[Mtriple]

Just watched the news and they're reporting 3 dead and a fourth still missing.

[Eric]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-08-plane-crash_N.htm?csp=34

The F-18 is a supersonic jet used widely in the Navy and Marine Corps and by the Navy's stunt-flying Blue Angels. Miramar, featured in the movie Top Gun, is home to about 10,000 Marines.

isn't it a F14 tomcat in top gun?

[mtechnik]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...h_N.htm?csp=34



isn't it a F14 tomcat in top gun?

The text just refers to the Miramar district being featured in Top Gun ;)

[SpecM]

isn't it a F14 tomcat in top gun?

but yes...

[Dave]

Apparently, that pilot never saw "The Great Santini" . . .

[MoparJ]

Apparently, that pilot never saw "The Great Santini" . . .

Weird, that's exactly what I told my coworkers when I heard what happened. Most of them are younger and haven't even heard of that movie, so it was hard to explain without ruining the ending just in case they ever decided to watch it.

Good movie, too...

[DCColegrove]

why, do military jets run on Motronic too?

I bet the CPS failed

Sick... But funny none the less.

Lots of shit to go wrong in a military jet, my father worked for Grumman Air Craft when I was a kid and he used to take me to work with him when I was about 9 or 10 a NAS Pt Mugu.

I got to see the F14's in hangars with all the shit pulled out of them and it just amazed me that there was just... So much shit in them.

Surprises me when they don't fall out of the sky.

[Jordan325iC]

If the jet really was beyond his control, the pilot did the right thing by ejecting. As sad as this is, it wouldn't have made it any better to add another dead body to the list and have another grieving family.

[ldsbeaker]

Rest assured, there WILL be an investigation. (By the Marines/Navy)

[e30sd]

this is great, the family is having a press conference at the scene and while the grieving husband is pouring his heart out a flight of f/a-18's goes by. oh the irony.

[WhatWentWong]

I heard someone say that there was possibly full hydraulics failure which would make that thing almost impossible to control at that altitude. It would be like trying to performance-drive a 70's Cadillac with power nothing.

I would guess more like a Ferrari with no steering wheel. I thought they were completely fly-by-wire, so there is no mechanical linkage between the stick and the control surfaces. All the surfaces droop when the hornet is parked on the ground, so I imagine without hydraulics, they would just be limp dick in mid air.

Sucks.