Military jet crashes in San Diego neighborhood - Los Angeles Times
Reporting from San Diego -- It was meant to be a routine training mission: a young Marine pilot sharpening his skills flying an F/A-18D Hornet from the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln off the San Diego coast.
But as the plane had lifted off the carrier deck, the pilot quickly knew he was in trouble, possibly with a malfunction in one of the plane's engines. He radioed the air controller at Miramar, who ordered the emergency landing attempt.
As the plane crossed over land at Torrey Pines en route to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, more problems struck, possibly "flame-out" of a second engine. The plane lost altitude and began to wobble.
Residents of the University City neighborhood west of Miramar, accustomed to the sight of warplanes overhead, looked up and knew something was terribly wrong.
Within seconds, the plane nosed downward and picked up speed, clipping the top of a jacaranda tree and smashing into a Cather Avenue home where a mother, a grandmother and two children lived. Skid marks could be seen on the driveway.
Three of the persons in the home were later confirmed dead, and the fourth missing. Burning debris and the smell of jet fuel spread in all directions.
Three houses and four vehicles were destroyed by flames, 20 homes were evacuated and the University City neighborhood was covered in thick, acrid black smoke. Neighborhood schools were put on lockdown as officials scrambled to find the cause of the explosions and fireball.
The pilot had parachuted moments before the crash, landing safely in a tree between the homes and Interstate 805 about two miles from Miramar. Neighbors said they saw the pilot wandering around in a daze.
Jason Widmer, who was working in the neighborhood, talked to the pilot after he ejected and landed. The pilot said he had tried to steer to into a brushy canyon to avoid homes.
"He was pretty shook up," Widmer said. "And pretty concerned if he had killed anyone. He had seen his bird go into a house."
The Marine Corps said the pilot, described as a lieutenant in his 20s, was taken to Naval Medical Center San Diego with minor injuries.
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