Three dead in F/A18 jet crash.

My family lived in that neighborhood when I was a kid (I was too young to remember), but yeah, I don't blame the military for being there, but I do wonder why a plane that was in trouble didn't just ditch into the ocean, or at least redirect to North Island NAS.

 

Miramar has dense population 30 miles north and south of it.

It is right in the middle of the population center of San Diego.

It was built in 1918 or so, but considering the SoCal population boom, you'd think they'd consider moving, at least up around Camp Pendleton.

 

Because apparently the pilot thought he could make it to land at Mirimar.

It's hard for me, sometimes, to make quick decisions moving at 120 knots. Hell, the simplest things like making the right radio call is damn tough when you have 100 things going on at once. I can't imagine how fast things come at you at 400 knots.

 

Not sure there's anywhere to move to near Camp Pendleton, either. Oceanside, Vista, Carlsbad -- a couple hundred thousand people live up there, too. And the beach cities creep up on you fast when you go up I-5 north of Pendleton.

The location of Miramar is not the problem. The problem is the reckless development right next to a freakin' air station! As I said, people move into an area with a military base and then complain that ... gasp ... the military has the gall to actually use the base. They should know the risks of the neighborhood and anticipate the problems with living there.

 

This is akin to Chicagoans complaining about Midway when a jet skids off the runway. Or someone complaining about the noise when they live by an airport. Or the sirens when they live by a hospital.

It's not hard to figure out the inherent dangers/annoyances that come with living in those types of areas.

Twice I've lived by airports. The first was a small county airport. The summer was particularly annoying when a single-person thing would fly around with a high-pitched buzzing noise. Part of living by the airport.

The second one was a regional airport with a national guard base. Can't tell you how many times I felt like a big cargo jet was "buzzing the tower" with the tower being my house. This accident very possibly could have happened in my neighborhood then. Fortunately it didn't, but it's the inherent risk.

Shit, you don't gotta live by an airport though for that to be a risk.

 

My thoughts were already with the family and pilot, but now I have a better appreciation for humanity after hearing this from the mourning father and husband:
SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- A Korean immigrant who lost his wife, two children and mother-in-law when a Marine Corps jet slammed into the family's house said Tuesday he did not blame the pilot, who ejected and survived.
Dong Yun Yoon addresses reporters Tuesday, a day after a jet crashed into his home and killed four of his relatives.
"Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident," a distraught Dong Yun Yoon told reporters gathered near the site of Monday's crash of an F/A-18D jet in San Diego's University City community.
"He is one of our treasures for the country," Yoon said in accented English punctuated by long pauses while he tried to maintain his composure.
"I don't blame him. I don't have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could," said Yoon, flanked by members of San Diego's Korean community, relatives and members from the family's church.

Anytime I think humanity is going into the crapper, I'll think of Mr. Yoon. God bless him.

 

So if I move near an airport, I should expect the occasional airplane to fall out of the sky and kill five of my neighbors?
Oh, oK.

 

Um, no. But you have to be aware of the possibility.

 

You shouldn't?

 

Re: Three dead in F/A18 jet crash. UPDATED - Report released

Report released on the crash:
ttp://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-miramar-jet-crash4-2009mar04,0,1947853.story

 

Here's the audio transmission between the pilot and air traffic controller:

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/03/03/military/za1c011dce4788c908825756a005c1a95.txt

 

Fixed the link