Morning:
8°c
Top Gun ejects to safety as fighter jet crashes into street, killing four
David Gardner in Los Angeles9 Dec 2008
THREE generations of the same family were killed after a fighter jet crashed in a residential street in California, turning their home into a fireball.
A grandmother, a mother and a small child all died in the house in San Diego which took the brunt of the impact. A second child who was inside is missing.
The F-18 jet exploded, burst into flames and careered into four houses and four cars yesterday. Police said nobody was injured in the other houses hit in the wealthy suburb of Universal City.
The pilot of the plane had been trying to reach the Marine Corps airfield at Miramar, about two miles from the crash site. He ejected safely, landing in a nearby canyon, moments before the jet crashed at around noon local time.
Dazed after his escape, he told witnesses that the plane lost one engine over the Pacific during a training exercise and air controllers decided he should try to limp back to base.
But he said the second engine failed when he was on the final approach and he had no option but to bail out.
The nearby Miramar base was the setting for Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise. The lost F-18 supersonic jet, in service for more than 20 years, was worth about £40 million.
The victims had not been named while police informed relatives about the tragedy. The search for the second child was called off at sunset and was resuming at first light this morning.
Neighbour Dennis Connor said he first saw the plane flying over the rooftops at a 45 degree angle. It clipped the top of a tree before slamming into the pavement and sliding into the houses.
He said the pilot got out with seconds to spare. "He was trying to get the plane to the canyon. He held out as long as he could and at the last second, the pilot parachuted out," Mr Connor said.
The ejection seat landed a few doors from Paulette Glauser's house. She ran into her yard, and said people were "running down the street, panicking".
"The house shook, the ground shook. It was like I was frozen in my place," said Steve Krasner, who lives a few blocks from the crash. "It was bigger than any earthquake I ever felt."
"It was quite violent,"added Ben Dishman, 55, who was resting on his couch after having back surgery. "I hear the jets from Miramar all the time. I often worry that one of them will hit one of these homes. It was inevitable. I feel very lucky." Investigators were searching for clues to what caused the engine failure today while the pilot was treated for shock and minor injuries at a naval hospital in San Diego.
There was little sign of the plane in the smoking ruins, but a piece of cockpit sat on the roof of one home, and a charred jet engine lay on a street. A parachute was visible in the canyon below a row of houses.
Reader views (2)
Just had to throw in a Tom Cruise reference didn't you..
- Trunk, US, 09/12/2008 22:36
Report abuse
For christsake get your toys in order boys 'n girls.
- Ferchristsake, Marlborough, New Zealand, 09/12/2008 21:07
Report abuse
