Military jet crashes in San Diego neighborhood

[HARDCORE]

[media]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081208/ap_on_re_us/military_jet_crash[/media]

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer

SAN DIEGO – An F-18 military jet approaching a Marine base crashed near a busy highway in a densely populated San Diego neighborhood Monday, sparking at least one house fire.

The pilot ejected, but it wasn't immediately clear whether the pilot or anyone on the ground was injured, officials said.

The plane crashed around noon Monday as it prepared to land at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, said Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman. The crash occurred two miles from the base.

Gregor did not know the pilot's condition or how many people were in the plane before it crashed near Interstate 805.

A high school sits near the crash site. Television news footage showed what appeared to be the remnants of a smoldering house and two cars on fire.

Steve Krasner, who lives a few blocks away in the earthquake-prone region, said he first thought the shaking generated by the crash was the long-anticipated "Big One."

He was in his kitchen when he heard two loud explosions and looked outside, then heard a larger blast.

"The house shook; the ground shook. It was like I was frozen in my place," Krasner said.

"It was bigger than any earthquake I ever felt," he said. "The flames were billowing overhead."

Dean Costa, who was about two blocks away at his father's house, said he felt the building vibrate, then made his way close to the crash site and saw two houses on fire and several cars explode.

"It was just crazy," said Costa, 22. "There was debris everywhere."

Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, said he didn't know whether anyone on the ground was injured.

A Miramar spokeswoman said base workers were sent to the crash site.

"We are still trying to confirm the aircraft even belongs to us," said Marine Staff Sgt. Bobbie Bryant.

The F-18 is a supersonic jet used widely in the Navy and Marine Corps and by the Navy's stunt-flying Blue Angels. An F-18 crashed at Miramar in November 2006, but the pilot ejected safely.

Miramar, well known for its role in the movie "Top Gun," is home to some 10,000 Marines. It was operated by the Navy until 1996.

___

Associated Press writers Michael R. Blood and Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

[darrels joy]

Area’s growth a threat to Nellis

Base tries to work with local governments but lacks clout

Members of the Protectors of Tule Springs drive into the Upper Las Vegas Wash area, part of the 13,000 acres the group wants to be turned into a conservation area. The Air Force backs this conservation effort because it helps ward off development near Nellis Air Force Base.
By Megan McCloskey
Mon, Dec 8, 2008 (2 a.m.)
Chris Morris


Leila Navidi
Helen Mortenson, left, holding a mammoth tooth; Jill DeStefano, founder of the Protectors of Tule Springs; and Col. Howard Belote of Nellis Air Force Base tour the Upper Las Vegas Wash in November.


Sun Archives

• Editorial: Shield Nellis from growth (2-15-2005)
• NLV, county to team up in restricting housing near Nellis (2-14-2005)
• Dogfight over development: New homes infringe on base, threaten training (12-16-2002)

Beyond the Sun

• Nellis Air Force Base

The Las Vegas of 1941, when the Strip was still U.S. 91 and not even 10,000 people lived here, seemed a practical place to build a military base.

The notion that it would be overtaken by suburban sprawl remained far-fetched for decades.

But then the 1990s came, and no other metropolitan area in the country grew faster than the Las Vegas Valley, and it has remained among the top five fastest-growing since 2000.

And today it seems on an inexorable collision course with Nellis Air Force Base, one of the nation’s most important combat-training bases.

Nellis commander Col. Howard Belote worries that should the base lose the open space to the north that accommodates its training and combat-preparation flights, then “the reason for Nellis to exist is almost gone.”

Still, North Las Vegas is charging ahead with growth.

“The Air Force would like to see very low density, if not no density, where planes fly, but I’m not sure if that’s reasonable because we would have to stop development where we’re at and not proceed further,” Frank Fiori, director of planning and zoning for North Las Vegas, said about the city’s future.

Communities may boast of their growth, but it’s difficult to overstate the significance of Nellis.

Nellis tests and develops weapons systems and serves as something akin to a graduate school for pilots who go into combat knowing that if they can survive 10 combat missions, their chances of returning home are greatly increased. To that end, Nellis gives pilots the opportunity for those first nine training missions that are as close to combat conditions as possible. Nowhere else in the country can the Air Force — and allies from all over the world — train as they do at Nellis. Almost all the training with live ordnance happens there.

So concerned was Nellis with losing its ability to train, it opened a public policy office in May to address nearby development.

The Air Force says it needs to protect three vital assets provided by Nellis: the ability to launch aircraft, to fly over open space with live ordnance, and to use sufficient air space to conduct air-to-air combat training. (The Air Force flies over 3 million acres of government-owned desert that in many respects passes as Afghanistan.)

Before growth exploded, relations between the base and local jurisdictions were simpler when it came to development. For example, in the 1980s, when Steve Wynn wanted to build a golf course, the base said it would be fine if he’d just move it a little north or a little south.

“We’re no longer able to accommodate those kind of requests,” said Deb MacNeill, director of Nellis’ public partnership office.

Nellis has since altered its flight patterns to avoid flying low with live ordnance over the southern part of the valley. The Air Force is also hemmed in by surrounding mountain ranges — pilots can’t get high enough fast enough to make it over them. So Nellis has effectively lost a good portion of its runway patterns and is now limited to those on the north side of the base.

The base has also acquiesced to noise complaints and agreed not to fly below a certain altitude, even though each restriction degrades the training.

And now North Las Vegas is annexing large areas near the northern end of base with a master plan for major, high-density growth. About 50 projects are proposed, including casinos and shopping centers.

Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins said he is concerned North Las Vegas’ quest for an identity will run roughshod over Nellis’ needs.

It’s unlikely one development project alone would put a halt to Nellis’ mission, but as Collins put it, the base is in danger of dying a death of a thousand cuts. This has happened in other areas of the country. To the north, Naval Air Station Fallon has taken over the elite Top Gun mission because there was no more room for it in Southern California.

There is little in federal law that offers Nellis a buffer against encroachment, and the military has recognized in the past few years that it needs be more aggressive at higher levels in protecting against that issue. The Air Force has been slower than the other services to get on board.

Some members of Congress, such as Democrat Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado, which has air bases facing similar issues as Nellis, have been pushing the Air Force to create a Pentagon-level encroachment program, identifying potential problems and budgeting for long-term solutions.

Land nearest to the fence line is a top concern. A few years ago, Congress approved $40 million for Nellis to buy more than 340 acres of such land to buffer runways from approaching development. But that isn’t a financially workable solution for the rest of the land involved, so the military has to use persuasion in dealing with the local governments that have land-use powers.

The state made fending off incompatible building a little easier for Nellis in 2007, passing a law requiring that the base be notified about impending development. Nellis has prepared a map identifying areas of high noise and accident potential, which Clark County has used to establish compatible land uses within those zones. And Nellis is working with North Las Vegas on one as well. But these agreements are limited.

Nellis and others are learning that while it is necessary to ward off development near the fence line, it also needs to monitor more distant growth proposals.

Case in point: the Bureau of Land Management, the largest landowner in Nevada — plans to auction land for development miles away that might affect Nellis.

“One element of the federal government is encouraging development and another is going ‘whoa, wait a minute,’ ” said Joseph Schilling, an assistant research professor at Virginia Tech who works with the Department of Defense on this issue.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., introduced legislation in September to build a northern UNLV campus on one such BLM parcel. Because of the potential for conflict, Nellis essentially has veto power over the proposal, but the base has so far not objected to the school’s expansion.

Development isn’t an either-or proposition — there are uses that are compatible with Nellis — but “a city, unfortunately, is not the best,” MacNeill said.

The Air Force tries to work with developers at the napkin-planning stage to prevent any incompatible development. But problems still arise. In 2006 the Air Force leaned on the Clark County Commission to quash a proposed 10-story condominium development near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The plan was abandoned.

Developers, residents and governments, Collins said, need to recognize that Nellis was here first — in fact it predates even El Rancho Vegas, the first casino resort built on what would become the Las Vegas Strip. Industrial uses are the most compatible with the base, but Fiori said he isn’t sure the city and Nellis can even agree on what is industrial.

The Apex Industrial Park as it stands now is compatible, but there could be conflict as the area is built up around it.

There was an unsuccessful push by developers to rezone the area in 2004.

As the valley continues to grow and the military evolves, Barns said, “the chances increase of a clash of social values.”

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008...llis/#comments

3 comments so far…

1. By Logandale2012

   12/8/08 at 6:54 a.m.

   
   Clarence "Tom" Collins is not stating the truth! Look at his actions on Gold Butte and all of the developers money he has taken in the form of compensation called campaign contributions. Look at his voting record when it comes to those so called campaign contributions. Ask him how many sealed records he has and are there any more pending? Collins has unfortunately four more years in part because this newspaper the Sun and the Review-Journal failed the voters.
   

2. By Educated_observer

   12/8/08 at 8:42 a.m.

   
   It's not just about the fact that Nellis was here first--what city planners with developers in their pockets forget is the billions of dollars that Nellis pumps into the Vegas economy annually through pay checks to troops and people who work on base, all those contracts they issue and attracting defense companies & technology/industry to Nevada. They rent our homes, shop in our stores, eat at our restaurants. If you build too close, the base will close like so many others--then what? Your developments will be ghost towns...
   

3. By LasVegas2009

   12/8/08 at 2:17 p.m.

   
   F-18 just crashed into a house in San Diego guess that sort of thing could happen here as well only with live weapons.
   

[39mto39g]

Military fighter jets crash, like Indy race cars, they are meant to go fast and be on the edge. When something happens the pilot of either has to go down with the craft or bail. The Car is in an enclosed space, the plane is not.
It's to bad for the people , but it's just part of keeping the United States safe, (friendly fire) Shit happens.
I feel sorry for the people , but I feel more for the pilot, he has to live with it and continue being an "On the edge" fighter pilot. For US.

Ron

[DMZ-LT]

My daughter lives in San Diego. When I heard this I called my wife to see if she had heard from Cathy. She had all ready called and Cathy was OK. Glad I never told my Mom what I was doing in RVN but she probably knew

[revwardoc]

Part of pilot training is, in such situations, if they feel they're going to go down in a neighborhood like that, they're supposed to stay with the plane as long as possible and fly it to where it will hit in what is hopefully an uninhabited area. I sure hope the pilot did that and not just bail out and hope for the best.

[darrels joy]

According to Fox, the pilot aimed the plane at the base runway, hit the afterburners to try to get it on base and punched out 3 seconds before the plane it.

First look, he did all he could.

[revwardoc]

That's good; I guess he gave it his best shot. Damn shame about the people on the ground.

[39mto39g]

The pilot lost an engine while doing aircraft carrier Touch and go practice, He headed for the base and lost the other engine. He bailed, but it was bail or die.
I don't know were people get so many different stories. Like he had afterburners. If he had afterburners, why would he punch out?
Ron

[David]

AP


SAN DIEGO – Both engines of a military jet fighter failed before the aircraft crashed and burned in a residential area, killing three people on the ground as it destroyed two houses, a congressional aide said Tuesday.

Investigators resumed the search for a missing child, believed to be 15 months old, in the wreckage of one house. Neighbors were in shock at the tragedy that befell the child's family Monday, hours after the father kissed his wife and baby goodbye in the driveway.

The twin-engine F/A-18D Hornet went down about two miles from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

No official initial finding of the cause of the crash was given, but a congressional aide who had been briefed on the crash said the pilot had been attempting to land at Miramar after his right engine malfunctioned. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not yet public.

While the pilot was on final approach to the runway the aircraft also lost thrust from its left engine, and the pilot ejected, the aide said Tuesday.

The pilot ended up suspended by his parachute in a tree. He was being treated at a hospital.

Three people — a mother, her baby and a grandmother — were killed in one house and officials said a fourth person, believed to be a small child, was in the house and had not been found. The search for the child had been suspended during the night.

One other home was destroyed and three were damaged.

The San Diego County medical examiner's office has not officially released the names of the victims. The Rev. Kevin Lee of the Korean United Methodist Church identified those killed as Young Mi Yoon, who was in her mid-30s; her 2-month-old daughter, Rachel; and her mother, Suk Im Kim, who had recently arrived from South Korea to help care for her daughter's newborn.

He identified the missing child as 15-month-old Grace Yoon.

Neighbors said the family of Korean immigrants moved into the area about three months ago.

Resident Choko McConnell, 85, a widow who lives down the street, said she often saw the grandmother pushing a child in a stroller.

"I cried all night," McConnell said. "A family perished, a young family."

Michael Rose, 44, said he often spoke with the family and had seen the father kiss his wife and baby goodbye in the driveway just hours before the crash.

"I thought, what a beautiful sight. And then later in the day, they were gone," Rose said.

Amy Hegy, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, San Diego, said she spoke to the father of the children when he returned to the gutted home Monday night. Hegy said he was "calm" and stayed with friends. She also said the man had extended family in San Diego but would not reveal further details.

Military aircraft frequently streak over the neighborhood, two miles from the base, but residents said the imperiled aircraft was flying extremely low.

The pilot, who ended up hanging by his parachute from a tree in a canyon beneath the neighborhood, was in stable condition at a Navy hospital, said 1st Lt. Katheryn Putnam, a Miramar spokeswoman. He had been returning from training on the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast, she said.

Investigators will review information from a flight data recorder. There was no indication the pilot was using alcohol or drugs, Putnam said.

Dawn Lyons spoke to the pilot just after he landed in the tree.

"I saw an incredibly composed person," Lyons said. "He didn't have any scrapes or bruises. He was very lucid."

There was little sign of the plane in the smoking ruins, but a piece of cockpit sat on the roof of one home, and a charred jet engine lay on the street. Authorities said the smoke wreckage was toxic and about 20 homes were evacuated.

A Marine Corps bomb disposal truck was brought to the neighborhood in the University City section of San Diego, although police assured residents there was no explosive ordnance aboard the jet.

The Navy recently inspected hundreds of F/A-18 Hornets, built by Boeing Co., after discovering "fatigue cracks" on more than a dozen of them. The inspections looked for cracks in a hinge that connects the aileron — a flap that helps stabilize the jet in flight — to the wing.

The Navy announced last month it had grounded 10 of the $57 million fighters and placed flight restrictions on 20 more until repairs could be made.

The supersonic jet is widely used by the Marine Corps and Navy and by the stunt-flying Blue Angels. An F-18 crashed at Miramar — the setting for the movie "Top Gun" — in November 2006, and that pilot ejected safely.

[David]

AP


SAN DIEGO - A Korean immigrant whose wife, two young daughters and mother-in-law perished when a military jet crashed into his house says he doesn't blame the pilot who safely ejected.

The Marine Corps fighter plane was returning from an offshore training mission Monday when it clipped a tree and slammed into homes about two miles from its base. Two homes were incinerated, and three others were damaged. Three generations of a Korean family died in one home.

The family's pastor, the Rev. Kevin Lee of the Korean United Methodist Church in San Diego, identified three of them as Young Mi Yoon, 36; her 2-month-old daughter, Rachel; and her mother, Suk Im Kim, 60, who was visiting from South Korea to help care for her daughter's newborn.

The body of 15-month-old Grace Yoon, Rachel's sister, was found in the home Tuesday, Fire Department spokesman Maurice Luque said. No one else remained missing.

The San Diego County medical examiner's office has not officially released the names of the victims.

No hard feelings
Young Mi Yoon's husband defended the pilot Tuesday.

"I don't have any hard feelings," Dong Yun Yoon, 37, told reporters near the rubble where his home once stood. "I know he did everything he could."

"Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident," Dong Yun Yoon said. "I know he is one of our treasured for the country."

Dong Yun Yoon, who left Korea in 1989 and became a U.S. citizen, wondered aloud how he would persevere after losing his family.

"Please tell me how to do it," he said, surrounded by his pastor, sister, brother and church members. "I don't know what to do."

Meanwhile, a high-ranking congressman called on the Marine Corps on Tuesday to release the maintenance records of all fighter jets of the type that lost power and crashed into the San Diego neighborhood.

Power failure
Rep. Duncan Hunter, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said the fiery crash Monday of the F/A-18D Hornet fighter as it approached Marine Corps Air Station Miramar was apparently caused by power failure.

"My understanding ... is that the engines failed, causing the aircraft to lose thrust," said Hunter spokesman Joe Kasper.

The crash was probably unrelated to the previous discovery of cracks in hinges on the wings of more than a dozen of the $57 million aircraft, the San Diego-area congressman said.

"It is important that we gain a complete understanding of what went wrong," Hunter said in a statement.

Marine Cpl. Travis Easter said officials at Miramar had no immediate response to the request for maintenance records.

The Navy announced last month that it was grounding 10 of the planes and limiting the flights of 20 others because of the cracks. It was not immediately clear whether the plane that crashed in San Diego was under any flight restrictions.

The pilot ejected safely and was taken to a naval hospital in stable condition. He was discovered hanging by his parachute from a tree in a canyon beneath the neighborhood.

Miramar officials declined to say whether he remained hospitalized, but witnesses said he appeared unhurt.

Neighbors said the family of Korean immigrants had moved into the area about three months ago.

Resident Choko McConnell, 85, a widow who lives down the street, said she often saw the grandmother pushing a child in a stroller.

"I cried all night," McConnell said. "A family perished, a young family."