REGION: Fourth victim of jet crash found

Pilot reported double engine failure before crash

By TERI FIGUEROA, COLLEEN MENSCHING and MARK WALKER - Staff Writers | Tuesday, December 9, 2008 7:14 PM PST ∞

On Tuesday, Marine pilot investigator looks through the debris as he kneels next to one of the engines of the F/A-18D military jet that crashed Monday in the University City neighborhood of San Diego. (Photo Hayne Palmour IV - Staff Photographer)

With a destroyed home in the background, a deep gouge in the street on Tuesday morning may have been where the military jet that crashed in San Diego on Monday first hit just after clipping a tree in a resident's front yard. (Photo Hayne Palmour IV - Staff Photographer)

Dawn Angeloni, right, hugs Pia Sud, who is the neighbor of Angeloni's brother, after they arrived Tuesday morning at their homes across the street from where a military jet crashed destroying two of their neighbor's homes and killing three people in the University City neighborhood of San Diego on Monday. (Photo Hayne Palmour IV - Staff Photographer)

Military personnel and firefighters stand among the debris Tuesday morning where a F/A-18D military jet crashed in the University City neighborhood of San Diego on Monday.

Other Miramar related crashes
Monday's crash of an F/A-18D fighter jet was the latest in a series involving Marine Corps Air Station Miramar-related aircraft. This list includes crashes that occurred on or near the base, or during out-of-the-area training missions.
Dec. 2006: F-18 Hornet crashes in unpopulated area on the east side of the base. Pilot ejects safely.
Oct. 2004: Civilian plane crash on base during Miramar Air Show. Pilot is killed.
July 2004: F/A-18A and F/A-18B collide during training flight over the Pacific Northwest. Two crew members in the F/A-18B are killed; pilot (who was sole occupant of F/A-18A) ejects and suffers minor injuries.
April 2004: F/A-18 crashes in Glamis during night-training mission. Pilot is killed.
March 2004: UC-35 transport plane crashes between Interstate 15 and Miramar Way while attempting to land at MCAS Miramar. Four Marines are killed.
Jan. 2004: Miramar-based helicopter crashes at Camp Pendleton. Four Marines are killed.
July 2003: F/A-18C Hornet crashes at Twentynine Palms. Pilots are killed.
Jan. 2003: F/A-18D Hornet crashes into the ocean 10 miles west of San Clemente Island during training mission. Two crew members eject.
Nov. 2002: F/A-18D Hornet crashes off the coast of Mexico (100 miles southwest of the base) during training flight. Pilot ejects and suffers minor injuries.
Aug. 2002: T-34C turboprop plane crashes in San Bernardino County during navigation familiarization flight. Pilot survives crash and is rescued.
Sept. 2000: Two F/A-18D Hornets collide during mock dogfight over Barry M. Goldwater training range east of Yuma. Two crew members in one plane are killed; second plane lands safely.
May 2000: F/A-18D Hornet based at Miramar crashes in Imperial County. Two crew members eject.
Jan. 2000: F/A-18 Hornet crashes east of Yuma during training exercise. Two crew members eject and suffer minor injuries.
June 1999: F/A-18 Hornet crashes during training exercise near Yuma. Two pilots eject; one is killed.
Dec. 1999: CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashes 15 miles off the San Diego shore during a training flight. Six Marines and one Navy corpsman are killed.
When Miramar was a U.S. Navy air base:
Feb. 1996: F-14D "Tomcat" crashes at sea while training 120 miles southwest of San Diego. Two crew members are killed.
April 1995: F/A-18 Hornet crashes on east side of base while attempting to land. Pilot ejects and sustains minor back injuries.

SAN DIEGO ---- A man whose family died Monday when a Marine Corps jet crashed into his University City home said Tuesday he missed his wife and children. He also expressed sympathy for the pilot, whom he said he hopes doesn't "suffer" from the tragedy.

"Nobody expected such a horrible thing would have happened," Dong Yun Yoon said a few hours after investigators found the remains of his oldest child, a toddler. "I believe my wife and two babies and mother-in-law are in heaven with God."

The Marine Corps has not released the name of the lone F/A-18D pilot, who ejected from the two-seat aircraft moments after reporting his engines had failed, landing about a quarter-mile from where the jet crashed. He was taken to a hospital and was released later in the evening, according to officials at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

Authorities found Grace Yoon, 15 months old, among the rubble of the family home on Tuesday, raising the death toll to four in the crash that also claimed her 2-month old sister, Rachel, and mother and grandmother, the county coroner's office said.

The children's mother had been identified as Young Mi Yoon, a nurse. Her mother, Suk Im Kim, who came to San Diego from Korea about two months ago to help her daughter with the children, also died in the flames that engulfed the family's two-story home moments after the crash.

The family's pastor, Kevin Lee of the Korean United Methodist Church, said Young Mi Yoon's devotion to the family "was incredible."

"She was a really good example of a Christian wife and mother. This is a very sad tragedy," he said.

The family joined the church about 17 months ago, Lee said. After learning of the deaths, Lee and the senior pastor spent time with Dong Yun Yoon, a businessman who came to the United States in 1989. He was at work at the time of the crash.

"We didn't have words to speak to comfort him, so we just hugged each other and cried, cried for a long time," Lee said.

Smoke continued to rise Tuesday from the home at 4416 Cather Ave., where the family was killed. A piece of the cockpit sat on the roof of a nearby home, and a charred jet engine lay on the street.

Michael Rose said he lives across the street from the Yoons and saw Dong Yun Yoon kiss his wife and children goodbye when he left for work Monday morning.

"I remember thinking how poignant that was," Rose said Tuesday.

Engine failure

The pilot was practicing aircraft carrier landings and takeoffs when he reported having engine trouble shortly after taking off from the USS Abraham Lincoln about 50 miles off the coast of San Diego, according to air station officials.

A Marine 1st lieutenant who was a member of a Miramar-based training squadron, he reportedly told air traffic controllers that one engine failed while he was over the water, and the second engine failed as he neared the air station.

He ejected moments before the plane slammed into the ground and was later taken to Balboa Naval Medical Center with minor injuries. The back seat is used by a weapons officer when the aircraft is on a strike mission and was unoccupied Monday.

On Monday, Dawn Lyons said she spoke to the pilot just after he landed in a tree.

"I saw an incredibly composed person," said Lyons, a University City resident. "He didn't have any scrapes or bruises. He was very lucid."

Maintenance history

The aircraft involved in the crash has come under scrutiny in recent weeks. The Navy last month inspected hundreds of F/A-18 Hornets built by Boeing Co. after discovering "fatigue cracks" on more than a dozen of the jets. The inspections looked for cracks in a hinge that connects the aileron ---- a flap that helps stabilize the jet during flight ---- to the wing.

The Navy announced last month that it had grounded 10 of the $57 million fighters and placed flight restrictions on 20 more until repairs could be made.

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, issued a statement Tuesday calling for the Marine Corps to release the maintenance history of the jet and all other F/A-18D jets in its fleet.

The congressman also said it is important to gain a complete understanding of what went wrong.

"This requires that we also get a full debrief from the pilot, which should reveal important information about any mechanical problems that led to the crash," he said.

Miramar officials said they did not know the age of the aircraft or its engines. The last F/A-18D built for the Marine Corps was delivered in 2000.

The cleanup of the crash site will take up to a week, according to Miramar spokeswoman Cpl. Jessica Aranda.

The investigation is being led by officials with Miramar's 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing with other military and federal investigators.

A decision on whether to release a transcript of conversations between the pilot and Miramar controllers, as well as information from the data recorder, won't be made until the probe is complete, Aranda said.

The Associated Press contributed material used in this report.

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-5442 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com. Contact staff writer Colleen Mensching at (760) 739-6675 of cmensching@nctimes.com. Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

Related links:

Other Miramar-related crashes

Three dead, one missing in Miramar jet crash

Neighbors describe sights and sounds of fatal plane crash

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