Marines: Mechanical, human errors led to jet crash
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
 In this Dec. 8, 2008, file photo, part of the engine from an F-18
fighter jet is seen burning after it crashed into a home in a San Diego
residential neighborhood, killing four members of a Korean family. The
pilot of the crippled Marine Corps jet was offered a chance to land at
a base with an approach over water minutes before the jet crashed while
heading for a base inland. 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. (AP
Photo/Matt Rose)
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD and ELLIOT SPAGAT
SAN DIEGO
(AP) –– A military jet crash that killed four people and incinerated
two homes was caused by mechanical failure and a string of bad
decisions that led the pilot to bypass a potentially safe landing at a
coastal Navy base, the Marines said Tuesday.
The military
disciplined 13 members of the Marines and the Navy for a series of
errors that led to the crash. Low oil pressure killed the jet's first
engine, and the second died when fuel stopped flowing from the tank.
Recordings
of conversations between federal air controllers and the pilot of the
F/A-18D Hornet show the pilot, Lt. Dan Neubauer, 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 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 Federal Aviation Administration tapes disclose.
Col.
John Rupp, operations officer for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at
Miramar, said there was "collectively bad decision-making" by officers
in San Diego who told the pilot to land at the inland base. He faulted
the pilot for neglecting to consult a checklist of emergency procedures
and for failing to grasp the severity of his problems.
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, he 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 actually was, Rupp
said.
The plane had about 340 gallons of fuel when the pilot
safely ejected, crashing two miles from the runway in a residential
neighborhood, the Marines said. Two homes were destroyed and three
others were damaged.
Potential problems with the plane's fuel
transfer surfaced in July, but the Marines sent the aircraft on 146
more flights before it crashed.
The dozens of successful flights
after the warning "lured the maintenance personnel into a state of
complacency," Rupp said. "More effective maintenance practices and
stronger supervision in the maintenance department could have directed
further troubleshooting prior to this flight."
Col. Kurt Brubaker, staff judge advocate of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, said no one person shouldered the brunt of 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.
The pilot has not been disciplined but his actions are under review by Marine Corps headquarters.
The findings drew quick reaction from members of Congress.
"This
was a tragic incident that could have been prevented," said Rep. Duncan
Hunter, R-Calif., who was among the lawmakers who received a
closed-door briefing on the results of the Marine Corps' investigation
into the crash.
"This plane should not have even been in use,"
Rep. Susan Davis, a San Diego Democrat, said in a statement. "There was
ambiguity as to whether this particular aircraft should have been
grounded due to the mechanical concerns."
It's difficult to
determine the pilot's precise location from the tapes, but he reported
his position as 20 miles south of Coronado, flying at 13,000 feet with
20 to 30 minutes of fuel remaining, less than a minute before he was
asked by controllers if he wanted to land at Coronado, according to the
recordings.
When air controllers told him a runway was available
at Coronado, the pilot said, "I'm actually going to try to take it to
Miramar if possible."
According to the tapes, air controllers
gave the pilot instructions that would allow for a landing at Coronado
or Miramar. At one point he was given a heading to follow but indicated
he was having trouble with the jet.
"I'm trying, sir, but single engine," the pilot said.
The pilot said he wanted to land at Miramar and told controllers to have emergency crews ready on the ground.
The
pilot told the air controllers at one point he was within sight of
Miramar, but about two minutes later, according to the tapes, an
unidentified pilot reported seeing smoke on the ground near Miramar.
Four
members of a Korean 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 to help her
daughter move across town and adjust to the arrival of her second child.
Marine
generals initially defended the choice to send the Hornet to Miramar.
Since the crash, a lingering question has been why the pilot didn't
attempt a landing at Coronado over open water.
The tapes indicate
that the ailing jet was closer to Coronado when the pilot reported a
possible problem with the second engine. Miramar is ringed by freeways
and bordered on its western end by residential areas that include a
high school.
Miramar dates to 1917, when the site was used to
train troops headed to World War I. As late as the 1950s, it was still
miles beyond San Diego's urban fringe, but homes have since been built
right up to the edge of the base, where the Navy established its "Top
Gun" fighter training school in 1969.
___
Blood reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Richard Lardner in Washington contributed to this report.
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