Military jet crashes in San Diego neighborhood

BY ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer Elliot Spagat, Associated Press Writer –

SAN DIEGO – An military fighter jet preparing to land at a Marine base crashed near a school and a busy highway in a densely populated San Diego neighborhood Monday, destroying two homes. The pilot of the F/A-18D Hornet jet ejected safely, according to a statement from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. San Diego fire and rescue spokesman Maurice Luque said he doesn't know whether anyone on the ground was injured.

The plane crashed near Interstate 805 around noon Monday as it prepared to land at the base, said Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman. The crash occurred two miles away.

Traffic kept flowing on I-805, the California Highway Patrol said. Students at nearby University City High School were kept locked in classrooms, but there was no damage to the campus and no one was injured, said Barbara Prince, a school secretary.

Two houses were destroyed and one damaged, the Marine base statement said.

There was little sign of the plane in the smoky ruins, but a piece of cockpit sat on the roof of one home. A parachute lay in a canyon below the neighborhood.

The middle-class neighborhood of half-million-dollar homes smelled like a brush fire. Ambulances, fire trucks and police cars choked the streets.

A Navy bomb disposal truck was at the site, and Marines were talking with police. Authorities told observers to leave because the smoke was toxic.

Steve Krasner, who lives a few blocks away in the earthquake-prone region, said he first thought the shaking generated by the crash was the long-anticipated "Big One."

He was in his kitchen when he heard two loud explosions and looked outside, then heard a larger blast.

"The house shook; the ground shook. It was like I was frozen in my place," Krasner said.

"It was bigger than any earthquake I ever felt," he said. "The flames were billowing overhead."

Dean Costa, who was about two blocks away at his father's house, said he felt the building vibrate, then made his way close to the crash site and saw two houses on fire and several cars explode.

"It was just plane crazy," said Costa, 22. "There was debris everywhere."

Ben Dishman, 55, said he heard what sounded like "a loud gunshot" followed by an explosion. He believed the sounds were from the pilot ejecting and the jet crashing.

"It was quite violent," said Dishman, resting on his couch after 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."

The F-18 is a supersonic jet used widely in the Navy and Marine Corps and by the Navy's stunt-flying Blue Angels. An F-18 crashed at Miramar in November 2006, but the pilot ejected safely.

Miramar, well known for its role in the movie "Top Gun," is home to some 10,000 Marines. It was operated by the Navy until 1996. Tom Cruise was not available for comment.