Well, well
Thirteen US military personnel have been disciplined for their roles in a fighter jet crash in California last year that left four people dead, officials said.
Marine Corps officials told reporters that the December 8 tragedy in the San Diego suburb of University City was a preventable accident caused by mechanical problems and poor decision-making.
Officials said the pilot in the crash had mistakenly opted to fly over populated areas rather than make an emergency landing approach over water at an alternative landing site.
The pilot, Lieutenant Dan Neubauer, ejected safely from his stricken F/A-18D Hornet after his second engine failed.
Neubauer's plane slammed into a home in University City, killing three generations of a single family: Yoon Young-Mi, 36; her daughters, 15-month-old Grace and seven-week-old Rachel; and Yoon's 60-year-old mother.
According to radio transmission tapes released Tuesday, Neubauer alerted air traffic controllers his jet was in trouble while above the ocean.
"I've got, uh, down to (a) single engine ... possibly a problem with the other engine, and time, uh, fuel remaining about, uh, 20 to 30 minutes," the lieutenant advised.
A controller then asked him where he wanted to land, apparently assuming that Neubauer intended to go to Naval Air Station North Island, which was nearer and approachable over water.
"Uh, I'm actually going to try to take it to Miramar, if possible," the pilot responded.
Shortly afterwards Neubauer's second engine failed, forcing him to bail out in a residential neighborhood not far from where his plane crashed.
Military officials said that in addition to making a faulty decision to head to Miramar, the pilot and his supervising officers violated various other emergency procedures.
"Ultimately this tragic accident was avoidable through human factors," Major General Randolph Alles told reporters.
Colonel John Rupp said a "complex emergency" had been "compounded by a series of well-intentioned but incorrect decisions, both inside the cockpit and in the squadron's ready room."
Above all, the jet should have gone straight to the Coronado-area naval base, a move that would have prevented the deadly crash.