F/A-18 had chance to land before deadly crash

[thedrifter]

F/A-18 had chance to land before deadly crash
By Michael R. Blood and Elliot Spagat - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 3, 2009 15:42:44 EST

SAN DIEGO — The pilot of a crippled Marine Corps jet was offered a chance to land at a base with an approach over water minutes before the jet crashed in a San Diego neighborhood while heading for a base inland. Four members of a family were killed in the December crash.

Recorded communications with air controllers reveal the pilot at least twice was offered a chance to land at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado — a base on a peninsula with a flight path over water.

But Federal Aviation Administration tapes show the pilot decided to fly the jet that had lost one engine to an inland Marine base on a route over the University City neighborhood.

Military officials have said the F/A-18D jet had a rare double engine failure.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines: Multiple errors caused San Diego crash
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD and ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writers
2 hrs 36 mins ago

SAN DIEGO – Marines knew five months before a military jet crashed into a home and killed four members of a family that the aircraft may have trouble getting fuel from tank to engine.

That ignored warning was only one misstep in what the Marines called a string of bad decisions that led the F/A-18D Hornet to slam into a densely populated residential neighborhood Dec. 8.

Low oil pressure killed the first engine shortly after takeoff, the Marines said Tuesday. The jet crashed with about 340 gallons of fuel that were choked off from the second engine, causing a fiery explosion that torched two homes and came close to a high school.

Potential problems with the plane's fuel transfer surfaced in July, but the Marines sent the aircraft on another 146 flights before it crashed, said Col. John Rupp, operations officer for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

The dozens of successful flights after the warning "lured the maintenance personnel into a state of complacency," Rupp said.

Military investigators faulted officers at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar for clearing the pilot, Lt. Dan Neubauer, to land at the inland base instead of the closest landing at a coastal Navy base — a route that also would have avoided flying over homes.

They also criticized the pilot for neglecting to consult a checklist of emergency procedures and failing to grasp the severity of his problems.

The military disciplined 13 members of the Marines and Navy for a series of errors that led to the crash, including four officers who were relieved of their duties. Investigators found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Neubauer, who ejected safely two miles from the runway, has not been disciplined but his actions will be reviewed at Marine Corps headquarters.

Recordings of conversations between federal air controllers and the pilot show the pilot was repeatedly offered a chance to land the plane at the Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado. The base sits at the tip of a peninsula with a flight path over water.

Instead, the Federal Aviation Administration tapes disclose that the pilot decided to fly the jet, which had lost one engine and was showing signs of trouble with the second, to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, which is about 10 miles north of Coronado.

The first engine indicated low oil pressure 10 minutes into the 47-minute training flight, which began from the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the San Diego coast, Rupp said. The pilot shut off the engine seven minutes later.

A squadron representative on the aircraft carrier told the pilot to land at North Island, which was a "conservative and prudent decision," Rupp said.

A low-fuel warning occurred 25 minutes into the flight, when the plane was 61 miles off the coast from North Island, Rupp said.

Officers at Miramar, including the squadron's commanding officer, cleared the pilot to go to the inland base, favoring Miramar's longer runway and assuming the pilot was closer to the base than he really was, Rupp said.

Col. Kurt Brubaker, staff judge advocate of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, said no one person shouldered all the blame.

"Collectively, there were a number of judgment errors," he said.

Four officers in Miramar-based Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101, including the commanding officer, have been relieved of duty for failing to follow safety procedures and allowing the Hornet to fly over the residential area. Nine other Marine and Navy personnel received lesser reprimands.

Killed in their home were Young Mi Yoon, 36; her daughters Grace, 15 months, and Rachel, 2 months; and her mother Suk Im Kim, 60.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines disciplined in jet crash that killed family
By Richard Lardner
The Associated Press
Posted: 03/04/2009 12:30:00 AM MST


WASHINGTON — Thirteen Marines have been disciplined for errors that led a disabled jet fighter to crash in a San Diego neighborhood in December, killing four members of one family, service officials told lawmakers Tuesday.

Four officers at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego have been relieved of duty for failing to follow safety procedures and allowing 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.

The Marine Corps has not decided whether to discipline the pilot, who ejected safely.

"He probably won't fly anymore," U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., told The Associated Press.

The pilot didn't understand what was happening to his aircraft, and a lack of communication between him and the ground crew kept the plane on course for Miramar, according to Hunter. As the jet approached Miramar with its right engine already disabled, the left engine failed, leaving the plane without power.

Seventeen seconds later, the pilot ejected.

The 50,000-pound aircraft slammed into a neighborhood, sending flames and plumes of smoke skyward.

Four members of a family were killed in their home — Young Mi Yoon, 36; her daughters Grace, 15 months, and Rachel, 2 months; and her mother, Suk Im Kim, 60. Kim was visiting from South Korea.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

From the Los Angeles Times
Poor maintenance, critical errors caused jet crash, report says
A Marine investigation finds that squadron bosses gave the pilot incorrect instructions for an emergency landing in an F/A-18 crash that killed four family members in a San Diego neighborhood.
By Tony Perry

March 4, 2009

Reporting from San Diego — The F/A-18 crash that killed four family members in a San Diego neighborhood on Dec. 8 was caused by poor maintenance on the plane and a series of critical errors by the pilot and officers trying to guide him to an emergency landing, a Marine investigation report released Tuesday concluded.

Among the worst of the mistakes was the pilot's decision, made with his squadron bosses, to bypass a runway on Coronado and attempt to land at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, 11 miles farther away. The pilot could easily have landed his jet at the closer North Island Naval Air Station, the investigation concluded.

Four top squadron officers at Miramar have been relieved of duty.

The investigation found that the commanding officer, operations officer, aviation maintenance officer and operations duty officer violated emergency procedures, gave incorrect instructions to the pilot, did not adequately check on the plane's location and failed to note the pilot's warning that his plane's only functioning engine had fuel problems.

Eight other Marines and a sailor have also been punished. The pilot, Lt. Dan Neubauer, who was still in training, has been grounded. The deputy commandant for aviation will decide whether he is allowed to resume flying.

"While we did not find any evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the responsible parties are being held accountable for their part in this tragic accident," said Maj. Gen. Randolph Alles, an F/A-18 pilot and assistant commander of the Miramar-based 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.

Also on Tuesday, Marine brass briefed politicians in Washington and San Diego, as well as Dong Yun Yoon, whose wife, two young daughters and mother-in-law were killed when the plane smashed into their home.

As a result of the crash, the Marines have upgraded their maintenance standards and changed their emergency training. Flight simulators will now include a scenario like the one the F/A-18 pilot faced, officials said.

Minutes after taking off from the carrier Abraham Lincoln, which was a little more than 100 miles southwest of North Island, Neubauer reported low oil pressure in the plane's right engine. As a safety precaution, he shut down the engine.

The F/A-18, nicknamed the Hornet, is designed to fly on one engine in cases where the fighter jet might be damaged by enemy fire and need to return to a carrier or land base.

After he turned off the engine, Neubauer did not scan lists pilots are supposed to check when mechanical problems occur in the air. Ground personnel at Miramar read him parts of those lists but omitted key parts, the investigation found.

The pilot was instructed by the carrier captain and "air-boss" to land at North Island, which can be approached over the ocean. Instead, Neubauer and his squadron bosses decided to attempt an emergency landing at Miramar, where the squadron is based. That meant the jet would have to fly over the densely populated University City neighborhood.

The flight officers at Miramar also failed to take note when the pilot reported that a light indicated he was low on fuel for the left engine, a "critical mistake," according to the investigation.

As Neubauer prepared to land at Miramar, the left engine "flamed out" and lost power for lack of fuel. The pilot attempted to crash in a canyon, but the 30,000-pound plane, traveling an estimated 150 mph, was out of his control. If the plane had stayed aloft just two more seconds, it would have slammed into the canyon behind the homes.

The investigation found that, for months, maintenance personnel had ignored problems with the fuel flow to the left engine and had certified the plane as fit to fly. The problem was not listed on F/A-18 regulations as requiring immediate attention.

Still, allowing the plane to fly "was collectively poor judgment on the part of the squadron's maintenance department," said Col. John Rupp, operations officer for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.

Tactics used by the pilot, and suggested by the ground personnel, exacerbated those fuel-flow problems and led the left engine to be deprived of fuel, even though the plane's tanks had thousands of pounds of fuel.

The pilot's final error was to make a left-turning loop to line up his approach to Miramar because he thought, incorrectly, that he could not turn toward the inoperative right engine. The turn took 90 seconds to accomplish and, for mechanical reasons, deprived the left engine of fuel.

At the point the left engine conked out for lack of fuel, the plane was just seconds from landing at Miramar. When it crashed, it spread jet fuel and metal parts throughout the neighborhood.

From engine flameout to crash took just 21 seconds.

Neubauer held on for 17 of those seconds and then ejected at approximately 400 feet; if he had waited a second or two longer, he probably would have been killed, the investigation concluded. The plane clipped a tree and skidded along Cather Avenue before smashing into the Yoon home. Two homes were destroyed and three others damaged.

After the crash, Marine Corps officials sent a bulletin to squadrons around the world telling them of the engine and fuel problems. The Navy and Marine Corps found 40 F/A-18s with the same problems, Alles said, but none have crashed.

tony.perry@latimes.com

Ellie