Marines to overhaul repair, air-safety rules

Lance Cpl. Brendan Inglesby and Lance Cpl. Tan Phan worked on a service door latch yesterday on an F/A-18 fighter jet based at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. (John R. McCutchen / Union-Tribune)

Online: To read past stories about the jet crash, hear a recording between the pilot and an air traffic controller, view a photo gallery and see video of Tuesday's Marine Corps news conference, go to

Blaming preventable errors and oversights for a fatal jet crash in December in San Diego, Marine officials are promising changes that extend from the operations room to the flight line.

The fixes include greater focus on trouble-shooting relatively minor problems before they become severe.

In July, for example, mechanics had found a fuel system glitch in the F/A-18D Hornet that eventually plunged into a University City neighborhood on Dec. 8. The Marine Corps did not ground the plane to make the needed repairs, instead allowing it to be used for 166 more flight hours before it crashed.

Marine officials have since scrapped the “ambiguous” maintenance rules that enabled the aircraft to keep flying, said Col. John Rupp, operations officer for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

He and other senior commanders also want to provide more realistic emergency training for pilots and those on the ground trying to help them. That includes using simulators to present pilots with multiple problems simultaneously.

Most details of the safety improvements have not been made public. The Marine Corps will likely introduce the overhaul in phases.

The University City crash, which killed four members of a Korean-American family, sparked wide debate about why Lt. Dan Neubauer turned down suggestions from at least two people to land at the coastal North Island Naval Air Station. Neubauer, a pilot new to the F/A-18D, traveled over heavily populated areas on his way to Miramar.

He shut off one of his jet's two engines after noticing low oil pressure minutes after leaving the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln at 11:11 a.m. Neubauer and other pilots were practicing takeoffs and landings from the ship, which was about 60 miles southwest of San Diego.

His emergency grew worse when aircraft instruments indicated the jet was low on fuel because of the fuel-transfer problem. The Hornet ultimately went down about two miles from the runway at Miramar.

A months-long investigation determined that Neubauer and top members of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101 uniformly failed to follow basic safety procedures and exhibited poor judgment in not having the jet land at North Island, the closest airfield.

Four of the squadron's leaders were relieved of duty, and nine other service members were disciplined. Neubauer's future as a Marine pilot is up to a safety board, which is reviewing his conduct.

Marine officials discussed what contributed to the crash during a news conference Tuesday at Miramar. They concluded by saying the Marine Corps is making a series of improvements in hopes of preventing a repeat of the accident.

Some of these changes are playing out at Miramar, home to several dozen Hornets.

Lt. Col. Douglas Pasnik, commander of the Miramar-based fighter squadron VMFA-225, said he sees the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing placing renewed importance on following procedures. That includes remembering to review safety checklists and not omitting any instructions in those documents, which is what happened during the Dec. 8 emergency.


