That was the husband/father/son-in-law of the deceased. Immigrants such as Don Yoon should also be considered "treasures". Sad all around.

If blame must be assigned, let's start with the local officials who allowed fairly high density residential development directly under MCAS Miramar's flight approaches. Aviation there predates WWII. The risk was known.

Encroachment of imprudent development upon military airbases is an ongoing problem that is increasingly impeding military readiness. I grew up under Moffett Field's flight path, and as a kid could lie on my back in my yard and count the rivets on P-3's flying over many times per day. That facility dated back to the airship era. Yet people who voluntarily moved in under its existing flight paths complained about the noise.

We are having the same problem at Eglin AFB, where the mayor of a local town that pretty much owes it's existence to the base is suing over noise from the new F-35s. Here in Pensacola, Florida, the "Cradle of Naval Aviation," we even have people who complain about the Blue Angels' practice shows.

In my experience, the military bends over backwards to be a good neighbor. But if you move in near an existing military base, you shouldn't [censored] about military operations; you've assumed that risk. More importantly, local officials should not allow developers to build where such conflicts are likely to be created.

Jeff

In 1989 An unmanned mig crashed in Belgium. The plane made a serious long flight on his own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Belgian_MiG-23_crash

Most important in such an event is to be aware of all kind of dangers. Even if the plane is not armed, there maybe hydrazine in the aircraft to power the epu.

I think that blame is easier than understanding.

The one lesson I learned from this was I am a lesser man than Dong Yun Yoon.


"Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident," a distraught Dong Yun Yoon told reporters gathered near the site of Monday's crash of an F/A-18D jet in San Diego's University City community.

"He is one of our treasures for the country," Yoon said in accented English punctuated by long pauses while he tried to maintain his composure.

"I don't blame him. I don't have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could," said Yoon, flanked by members of San Diego's Korean community, relatives and members from the family's church.


and yes, i am sobbing like a little girl right now with my 10 month old asleep in my lap...

It's sad that professionalism and courage can be so easily mistaken for a "casual" attitude. Presumably, people expected the pilot to be sobbing into his cell-phone as he reported in ...

The developers pay off the county commissioners and all is well.

Where all the flooding happened last year in Lewis Co., WA, the county commissioners are authorizing filling in more of the flood plain for more businesses to be built. When the next flood comes, the water will go higher and further. Their justification? "It's not illegal."

It isn't illegal because they don't want it to be illegal. If they cared about loss of life and property, it would have been illegal for a long time.

Follow the money.

Sue

Yoon is truly a great American, and a man of tremendous character.

Jeff

Hmm, sounds a lot like NO flood control failure. They knew it was inevitable, they just chose not to do anything about it until after the fact, when they could put their hand out and expect the rest of us to fix it for them.

Saw live report on TV, pilot wasn't talking on HIS cell phone ...he used one provided by a paramedic that responded. At least thats what I heard ....also commentator said pilot was very concerned about what the plane did after he ejected and that he'd stayed late as he could and couldn't make an open area.
Sure he could've augered in with the plane, but what would that solve ?
I choose to believe he punched out as late as he dared. I have a healthy respect for aviators ...despite the jet jock image projected by some ...these guys have no desire to injure anyone, but bad guys.
AS to whether he should of done this or that ...we won't be privy to anything but rumor and conjecture. And its unllikely that he made any decisions alone....except the one to try and save his own ass at the last possible moment. One can only do so much with a plane with no engines ... which become more like a rock with wings at some point afte rthat last engine quits.
And while my sympathies go out the injured parties on the ground I commend the father for stepping up early in this personal (for him) nightmare to even mention the pilot.
That guy gets my vote and I hope there's a way to help his patch his life back together and nurture him thru this.

As close as his parachute came down relative to the crash, I'd speculate he came very close to being part of the crash site-- seconds from impact. There's an image at http://media.signonsandiego.com/img/phot...2edc6288efb17ce which shows just how close the parachute was to the crash site. The aircraft canopy also came down in the neighborhood, coming to rest on the fence between two homes.