Last December’s F-18 crash has been ruled “clearly avoidable.”
“The tragedy that occurred on the 8th of December was caused by mechanical malfunctions on two different engines … which presented the pilot with a complex emergency compounded by well-intended but incorrect decisions which ultimately resulted in the fuel starvation of the aircraft’s remaining engine.,” said Col. John Rupp, operations officer for the 3D Marine Aircraft Wing in San Diego.
Among those incorrect decisions, Rupp said, was the decision by maintenance crews to allow the aircraft to fly despite reports of a problem with its fuel flow; the decision by the pilot to try to land at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego rather than the nearby Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado despite losing function of the jet’s right engine; and a series of miscommunications and bad assumptions by the pilot and officers directing him that eventually caused the left engine to “flame out.”
There is nothing good to report here, except perhaps the forthrightness with which the Marine Corps detailed the full extent of the culpability and responsibility. We ground types like to poke the aviators about flight pay and crew rest and whatnot, but the fact remains that their mistakes come with big price tags; they earn their pay and perks every time they bring plane and crew back home in one piece.
God bless the victims, and the pilot.
