Author Topic: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA  (Read 36199 times)

Offline laylow

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F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« on: December 08, 2008, 05:01:13 PM »
F-18 went down in my city today. Pilot ejected safely.  No word of injuries on the ground.
http://www.cbs8.com/stories/story.148319.html



Offline laylow

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2008, 05:53:47 PM »
Pentagon now reporting two civilians on the ground killed.

Offline Cave5150

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2008, 02:36:05 AM »
Pilot reported to neighbors he was "flying on 1 engine for almost 100 miles" (inbound miramar from a carrier). Tried to set it down in a barren grass area, didn't quite make it. 3 on ground confirmed dead; 1 missing assumed dead. Same house same family. Pilot ok (physically)

Offline captainamir

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2008, 08:26:47 PM »
hi
anyone knows where i can find the communication of the f18 plane which crashed while ago!

cheers

Offline SoCalAtcRetired

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2008, 08:19:42 PM »
Apparently the aircraft was returning to MCAS Miramar due to engine failure at the carrier. While the FA/18 was passing just south of NAS North Island (NZY) the remaining engine began to have problems. The approach controller offered the pilot an approach to NZY that would have kept the aircraft OVER WATER the entire time. The pilot pressed on for Miramar with very tragic results. This was a very bad call by the pilot, and poor decision making by squadron personnel involved during the emergency.

No engines= no hydraulics= no control..... KEEP THE AIRCRAFT OVER WATER!!

Offline fholbert

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2008, 06:07:18 PM »
This was sent to me via e mail today and entitled....."Someone made a truly
Horse.... decision. You never pass up a good field with only one left burning"..
From a fellow F18 pilot in the know on this crash... The story is the pilot lost the
first engine while doing Carrier ops off the coast. Since he was fairly new to the
airplane, ships ops decided to send him to North Island (rather than bring him back
onboard the ship). On approach to North Island, he decided he had enough fuel and broke
it off to go to Miramar instead because they had "better maintenance". The
pilot kept it dirty because it was thought (in discussion with others) that to keep it
dirty would not overwork the remaining Hydraulic pump. On final to Miramar the second
engine overheated and rolled down. Apparently the engine(s) have an overheat protection
that will automatically shut the engine down. He rode it down to 400-!
600 feet and ejected (and killed four people).
     When this becomes public (and it will) that the pilot actually was on approach to
North Island and left that approach to go overland and over houses/people to Miramar
instead, it will not be good for a lot of people involved...not just the pilot.  My
source is on site and involved.

Frank Holbert
http://160knots.com

Offline laylow

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2008, 06:08:44 PM »
If that's true, wow, poor decision making by someone. 

Offline SirIsaac726

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2008, 12:34:23 AM »
I'm not saying that the pilot was right in making his decision to go to Miramar (if this is actually true), but what would've happened if he didn't go to Miramar?  Would some superior be on his rear end about not flying to Miramar?  Unfortunately, things like that do happen.

Offline bphendri

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2008, 02:03:03 PM »
I'm sorry but that doesn't make any sense.  And I think people are just starting to speculate and play armchair pilot.

Does anyone know where the carrier was?  Obviously it couldn't have been 100 miles south of Point Loma, that would put it in Mexican waters.  More then likely it was further west of San Clemente.   Shortest distance would be to come inland over La Jolla to Miramar anyways.  Added that it was a Marine F-18, I can understand why they would have wanted it at their MX base. 

If aircraft was JSO North Island, that would have put it either down in Chula Visa/Coronado.

Overheat protection where the engine will automatically shut down?  Don't know about that one, Even Comercial jet's won't shut down an engine automatically  (pilot still has to manually pull the fire handles)

Why don't we wait and see what the offical accident report says before we start speculating?

kea001

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2009, 05:46:16 PM »
Safety procedures not followed before fatal jet crash, Marines say



"The Marine jet crash that killed four people in University City on Dec. 8 could have been prevented if the pilot and officers on the ground had followed safety procedures, and if the Marine Corps had stopped flying the plane after noting a fuel problem months earlier, said people who were briefed by the Marine Corps on Tuesday."

also:

“Senior officers communicating with the pilot, as well as the pilot himself, did not consult their checklist and follow appropriate procedures that could have prevented the incident altogether,”

Union Tribune - San Diego

story and links to ATC audio clips here:
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/mar/03/4bn03crash-procedures-not-followed/?zIndex=61394

Marine Corps punishes 13 for San Diego jet crash

"Four officers at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego have been relieved of duty for directing the F/A-18D Hornet to fly over the residential area, the officials said. Nine other military personnel received lesser reprimands. With his jet having engine problems, the pilot should have been told to fly over San Diego Bay and land at another base that sits on the tip of a peninsula, the officials said.

The Marine Corps has not decided whether to discipline the pilot, who ejected safely, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., told The Associated Press.

"He probably won't fly anymore," said Hunter, a Marine veteran."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j87sNXA22jdYrCQFzRIUB_AMDeGAD96MQN6O0



     When this becomes public (and it will) that the pilot actually was on approach to
North Island and left that approach to go overland and over houses/people to Miramar
instead, it will not be good for a lot of people involved...not just the pilot.  My
source is on site and involved.

Frank Holbert
http://160knots.com

You heard it here first.
« Last Edit: March 03, 2009, 07:09:38 PM by kea001 »

Offline joeyb747

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2009, 06:01:52 PM »
You know what they say;
Accidents are a culmination of many bad decisions, not just one.

Truly unfortunate thou...

Offline inigo88

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #11 on: March 04, 2009, 05:08:41 AM »
Does anyone know where the carrier was?  Obviously it couldn't have been 100 miles south of Point Loma, that would put it in Mexican waters.

Per the San Diego Union Tribune, that's exactly where it was.

Quote
And I think people are just starting to speculate and play armchair pilot.

Yes, and you are as guilty as anyone else on this thread.

Quote
You heard it here first.

Indeed. Thanks fholbert! :)

Inigo

kea001

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #12 on: March 04, 2009, 08:05:00 AM »
You could probably count on one hand the number of countries in the world whose military would have reached such a thorough and unbiased conclusion to an incident such as this and done so in such an open (i.e. public) and expeditious
manner.

Offline sykocus

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #13 on: March 04, 2009, 09:00:47 AM »
I worked an emergency F-18 that had a fuel transfer malfunction. The plane was at about FL270 and the nearest airport was a civilian airport about 30mi behind him. He diverted there and put it on the ground as quickly as I've seen anyone from that high and close to an airport. After I gave him a descent I barely had enough to time to read the most recent wx obs to him before I needed to change to the tower freq. The military base he was operating from was only about 80 mi away and he could have approached it completely over water. I don't have a lot of experience with 18's so I didn't know at the time how serious a problem it was. I don't know how long my pilot knew about the problem but it couldn't have been long. As soon as he told me about it he knew exactly what he wanted to do. It's sad that pilot nor the people on the ground he consulted didn't make the same kind of decision the pilot in the plane was working did.
« Last Edit: March 04, 2009, 09:03:42 AM by sykocus »

Offline laylow

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kea001

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #15 on: March 26, 2009, 12:11:16 PM »
Report: Accident Pilot Followed Orders To Continue To Miramar

"While the heavily-redacted report -- obtained by The Los Angeles Times under the US Freedom of Information Act -- offers few new details beyond what the Corps has previously released, it does reveal the young trainee pilot followed orders from superior officers to overfly dense residential development to try and make it to Miramar, when he passed up a closer available runway with an approach over open water at North Island Naval Air Station.
The Corps has since relieved four officers of duty, a sanction which could end their careers. Still, Lieutenant Dan Neubauer -- who was identified in local media reports but not in the report -- is criticized in the USMC report for "...an unacceptable lack of assertiveness even given his lack of experience," for not questioning the orders to proceed to Miramar."

Full story at Aero-news.net:
http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=8e1d2b86-c648-41bf-98a9-60ba539ea6ac&

Offline SJ30

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #16 on: March 26, 2009, 01:57:15 PM »
ATC audio here: http://www.avweb.com/podcast/files/2009-03-05_Shooter25-MiramarF18Crash-ATCaudio.mp3

Thanks for posting this, Laylow.

By all accounts, it appears as though 225 was cleared for the visual on 06 and was last instructed to down to 2,000.  He was executing a left-turn in the clouds while at the same time, civilian control instructed a right-hand turn to 060 to 080 [it varied about two times in rapid succession].  225 knew that there were clouds and asked for vectors to align with 06 at Miramar.  225 confirmed that he had the runway in sight but a split second later somebody calls in to confirm "smoke" at 2 miles short of the runway.

I'm not so sure anymore that this was merely a second engine out problem.  Prior to 225's verbal confirmation that he had 060 in sight, he made no mention of an immanent engine problem.  225's last mention of a "possible" remaining engine problem came much earlier in the ATC transmission - he never mentions it after that as being something that he felt would be causal of him not making the runway.

He was also conscious and aware of his aircraft's energy status, as he refused to begin his descent when control initially instructed a descent down to 4,000 ft.  He refused twice and then began his descent on his own while control fed him vectors.  But, at some point he ended up at 2,000 on his own in the clouds(?)  I'm still not sure why 225 did this [we were not there, of course], but this placed him 2,000 ft lower than control was expecting initially.  Right after that, 225 confirms visual on 060 and then a split second after that, "smoke" was called by someone else short of the active at 2 miles.

Now, I know I'm not a pilot yet and I am still very green, but hearing this audio puts things in a different light for me.  It sounds like 225 penetrated the clouds and went "too low" initially to make 060 on the visual.  If there was a second engine failure, he simply did not have the altitude to deal with it in time.  According to the Naval Aviation Safety Center, the F-18 has a four channel, dual computer control-by-wire with hydraulic boost control flight system, that has had problems before within certain engine out scenarios and when pilots failed to run the FCS I-Bit test as a normal part of the engine start-up procs routine.  It does not sound like an I-Bit problem, but who knows.

As far as the F404 shutting itself down automatically is concerned, that's not something I've read in any specification on the F404.  From what I've read in the past, the F404 is fairly resistant to compressor stalls, even at high angles of attack.  And, when it does suffer a stall, both the engine and then the afterburners auto-start/ignite as a matter of design, not as a course of anything the pilot does.  So, the pilot could have a compressor stall and never have to manually restart the engines or light the afterburners [manually].

 

 

Offline jonnevin

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #17 on: March 26, 2009, 05:00:39 PM »
this was just a colossal mess of errors and poor decision making all the way around. I completely understand that it this is armchair quarterbacking and none of us were there, but the decision not to go to NZY was wrong, and unfortunately dead wrong.

Sadly, not long there after, they had another incident where an F-18 went minimum fuel and had trouble getting back to Miramar at night and initially lined up with MYF to the south (a GA airport) and had to be advised of his error.

Not good times for military flying in SD right now.

Offline laylow

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #18 on: March 29, 2009, 10:37:46 AM »
That would've been interesting, an F-18 landing at Montgomery.

Offline flygirltammy

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Re: F-18 Crash, San Diego, CA
« Reply #19 on: March 29, 2009, 02:38:46 PM »
this was just a colossal mess of errors and poor decision making all the way around. I completely understand that it this is armchair quarterbacking and none of us were there, but the decision not to go to NZY was wrong, and unfortunately dead wrong.


Yes. It's an example of how there is a chain of events leading up to the sad accident. Had one link been removed, maybe it would not have happened. But I certainly cannot put myself in anybody's shoes who were involved. I hope I never have to.