Posted on 03/03/2009 6:17:52 PM PST by PurpleMan
The Marine Corps has sacked four top officers of a California-based fighter squadron over the December crash of a fighter jet that slammed into a San Diego neighborhood, the service announced Tuesday....
"The end result was that the squadron elected to fly an aircraft that had a degraded fuel system on the left side of the aircraft," Rupp said. "This is a critical point, and this was collectively questionable judgment on the part of the squadron's maintenance department."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Looks criminal to me, especially in light of 4 innocent people being killed.
Why didn’t the pilot just ditch the plane in the water when he had the chance?
Or better yet why didn’t he land it at the airport by the water instead of flying it over peoples homes.
When did he have the chance?
It’s about 10 miles to the sea.
I did not realize there was an airport that close to the coast. Why did he try to save the plane? It’s just a plane, and usually can be replaced (of course under Obama, that may not be the case).
I’d like to hear the aircraft voice recording of this event.
Where are they?
The news reports I heard made it appear he was flying over the ocean. My fault for trusting a news report.
According to one story I read today he was over the water and chose to fly it inland.
“Why did he try to save the plane? It’s just a plane, and usually can be replaced (of course under Obama, that may not be the case).”
Because pilots usually won’t admit they can’t control the situation until its the last moment. I’m sure he thought he could make it. It was the people on the ground that should have told him to land it or bail out.
Still he was the pilot and its his responsibility in the end.
It was a military aircraft and they don’t have to share any recordings with the public. IIRC, he was in contact with the tower at his base, not an FAA facility.
Most likely he was ordered to return to Miramar and not to ditch.
Miramar is closer to three miles from the coast. The area he hit was not densly populated as the MSM tries to imply.
I heard some of the recording today.
The ATC and the pilot were calm and professional.
The pilot was offered North Island on Coronado Island (down past the Del Coronado Hotel )
or Miramar , inland.
The pilot said he would consult with those on the ground before making a decision.
146 times?
146 TIMES?!
You don’t bail out of an aircraft that’s still flyable. If he was closer to North Island, that would have been a better choice. North Island’s runway is along the beach and the approach is over the beach. Miramar isn’t far from the shore, but if you have an emergency (one engine out in a two-engine plane counts as an emergency) you land at the nearest field that has enough runway.
My guess (just that) is that the maintenance officers wanted it back at the squadron to work on, never thinking that the other engine would fail.
?
4 lives gone, 4 Officers’ careers destroyed (they will probably be charged with an appropriate federal crime no doubt).
146 times and insufficient fuel? Is that the way this is coming out?
"The F/A-18 Hornet crashed after 'a succession of emergencies' that began with oil-pressure problems in its right engine during a flight off the Southern California coast, said Marine Col. John Rupp. That left the jet relying on its other engine, which previously had been giving mechanics electronic indications of a problem with its fuel-flow system, Rupp said. Maintenance rules don't require immediate repairs for the problem, he said, but the squadron flew the jet 146 times before it eventually crashed because its left engine was starved for fuel."
Long day at work, I guess.
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