thedrifter
12-12-08, 05:07 AM
Marines defend decisions before San Diego crash
The Associated Press
Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (9:45 p.m.)
Marine Corps generals on Thursday defended the decision to direct a fighter jet pilot over a crowded San Diego neighborhood after an engine on his F/A18-D Hornet failed.
It couldn't be predicted that the second engine on the jet also would fail, forcing the pilot to eject and bringing the aircraft down onto a two-story home where it killed four people, including two children, the generals said at a closed congressional briefing, according to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and others who attended.
In the wake of Monday's crash, some have questioned why the jet didn't divert toward a coastal air station instead of continuing over neighborhoods toward Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
A number of factors made Miramar the right call at the time, according to the military briefers, who included Maj. Gen. Robert Schmidle.
They emphasized that double-engine failure is extraordinarily rare, and that the F/A18-D is designed to be able to operate on one engine. An investigation will attempt to determine why both engines failed.
"It's an extraordinary coincidence of double engine failure," said Hunter, a San Diego-area congressman who organized the briefing as the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.
"Evidence indicates the pilot followed procedures correctly up to the moment" he ejected, Hunter said after the briefing.
In San Diego, Col. Christopher O'Connor, Miramar's commanding officer, defended the pilot at a forum Thursday night that attracted more than 300 residents who live near the base. He said the pilot was "within seconds" of crashing the plane in an uninhabited canyon.
"He waited 'til the absolute last minute before it would have killed him as well," O'Connor said.
O'Connor pledged a thorough investigation but he failed to appease some in the audience at University City High School, where many students witnessed the crash. One resident, Louis Rodolico, asked why the Marines "sent a doomed machine over a highly populated zone."
O'Connor said the pilot reported trouble over the ocean and was given a "direct route" to Miramar. The FA18, he said, "is designed (to) and flies safely on a single engine."
Speaking to reporters, he said he didn't know where the closest airstrip was when the first engine failed. He said the investigation would address why the jet didn't land at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego Bay, which would have kept it over water.
The jet had taken off for a practice flight from the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln about 50 miles offshore from San Diego. Its right engine failed while it was still over the Pacific, said officials who attended the Washington briefing.
At that point, it was a straight shot inland toward Miramar, whereas turning and heading toward Naval Base Coronado on the coast _ as some have suggested would have been a better option _ would have required more engine thrust.
That flight path might also have taken the jet over the Hotel del Coronado or the air space of Lindbergh Field airport.
"Altitude, terrain and air speed made it very difficult to divert anywhere else," said Hunter's spokesman Joe Kasper, who also was in the briefing.
The jet's left engine didn't fail until the plane was close to Miramar _ too late to change course because of the condition of the plane and its location. The pilot ejected at just 2,200 feet _ perhaps a last possible moment to save his own life, officials said.
However Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, an Armed Services committee member who also attended the briefing, said questions remained.
"Were there some other options, might these have been vetted earlier before the catapulting?" she asked in an interview afterward. "Of course there are concerns."
She said she couldn't second-guess the pilot and hoped the Marine Corps would be as transparent as possible in its investigation.
Steve Diamond, a retired Navy lieutenant commander who witnessed the crash and spoke with the pilot after he ejected, said it was "very, very rare to lose two engines in a Hornet."
Diamond, who flew out of Miramar during his 20 years in the Navy, said several factors may have influenced the decision to go to Miramar. They include fuel supply, the pilot's level of experience and the nature of the problem.
"I can tell you unequivocally that the correct decision was to send him back to Miramar," said Diamond. "There was every reason to believe he could make it to the runway."
Hunter reiterated after the briefing that although information remained preliminary, there were no indications of structural failure with the plane. Instead the issue seems to have been the engine failures, unconnected to the previous discovery of "fatigue cracks" on more than a dozen of the Hornets.
___
Associated Press Writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.
Ellie
The Associated Press
Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (9:45 p.m.)
Marine Corps generals on Thursday defended the decision to direct a fighter jet pilot over a crowded San Diego neighborhood after an engine on his F/A18-D Hornet failed.
It couldn't be predicted that the second engine on the jet also would fail, forcing the pilot to eject and bringing the aircraft down onto a two-story home where it killed four people, including two children, the generals said at a closed congressional briefing, according to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and others who attended.
In the wake of Monday's crash, some have questioned why the jet didn't divert toward a coastal air station instead of continuing over neighborhoods toward Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
A number of factors made Miramar the right call at the time, according to the military briefers, who included Maj. Gen. Robert Schmidle.
They emphasized that double-engine failure is extraordinarily rare, and that the F/A18-D is designed to be able to operate on one engine. An investigation will attempt to determine why both engines failed.
"It's an extraordinary coincidence of double engine failure," said Hunter, a San Diego-area congressman who organized the briefing as the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.
"Evidence indicates the pilot followed procedures correctly up to the moment" he ejected, Hunter said after the briefing.
In San Diego, Col. Christopher O'Connor, Miramar's commanding officer, defended the pilot at a forum Thursday night that attracted more than 300 residents who live near the base. He said the pilot was "within seconds" of crashing the plane in an uninhabited canyon.
"He waited 'til the absolute last minute before it would have killed him as well," O'Connor said.
O'Connor pledged a thorough investigation but he failed to appease some in the audience at University City High School, where many students witnessed the crash. One resident, Louis Rodolico, asked why the Marines "sent a doomed machine over a highly populated zone."
O'Connor said the pilot reported trouble over the ocean and was given a "direct route" to Miramar. The FA18, he said, "is designed (to) and flies safely on a single engine."
Speaking to reporters, he said he didn't know where the closest airstrip was when the first engine failed. He said the investigation would address why the jet didn't land at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego Bay, which would have kept it over water.
The jet had taken off for a practice flight from the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln about 50 miles offshore from San Diego. Its right engine failed while it was still over the Pacific, said officials who attended the Washington briefing.
At that point, it was a straight shot inland toward Miramar, whereas turning and heading toward Naval Base Coronado on the coast _ as some have suggested would have been a better option _ would have required more engine thrust.
That flight path might also have taken the jet over the Hotel del Coronado or the air space of Lindbergh Field airport.
"Altitude, terrain and air speed made it very difficult to divert anywhere else," said Hunter's spokesman Joe Kasper, who also was in the briefing.
The jet's left engine didn't fail until the plane was close to Miramar _ too late to change course because of the condition of the plane and its location. The pilot ejected at just 2,200 feet _ perhaps a last possible moment to save his own life, officials said.
However Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, an Armed Services committee member who also attended the briefing, said questions remained.
"Were there some other options, might these have been vetted earlier before the catapulting?" she asked in an interview afterward. "Of course there are concerns."
She said she couldn't second-guess the pilot and hoped the Marine Corps would be as transparent as possible in its investigation.
Steve Diamond, a retired Navy lieutenant commander who witnessed the crash and spoke with the pilot after he ejected, said it was "very, very rare to lose two engines in a Hornet."
Diamond, who flew out of Miramar during his 20 years in the Navy, said several factors may have influenced the decision to go to Miramar. They include fuel supply, the pilot's level of experience and the nature of the problem.
"I can tell you unequivocally that the correct decision was to send him back to Miramar," said Diamond. "There was every reason to believe he could make it to the runway."
Hunter reiterated after the briefing that although information remained preliminary, there were no indications of structural failure with the plane. Instead the issue seems to have been the engine failures, unconnected to the previous discovery of "fatigue cracks" on more than a dozen of the Hornets.
___
Associated Press Writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.
Ellie