2008 San Diego F / A - 18 crash The San Diego F / A - 18 crash was the crash of a United States Marine Corps ( USMC ) F / A - 18 Hornet in a residential area of San Diego , California on December 8 , 2008 . The pilot , First Lieutenant Dan Neubauer ( 28 ) from VMFAT - 101 , was the only crewmember on board the two - seat aircraft ; he ejected successfully , landing in a tree . The jet crashed into the University City residential area , destroying two houses and damaging a third . A total of 4 residents in one house , two women and two children , were killed . A USMC investigation concluded that poor maintenance caused the engine malfunction . Errors by the pilot and USMC personnel on the ground led to the aircraft crashing into the San Diego residential neighborhood . As a result , in early 2009 the pilot was temporarily grounded and thirteen other officers and enlisted personnel were relieved and / or disciplined . The Marine Corps notified other F / A - 18 squadrons of the engine and fuel problems discovered during the investigation . Crash . On December 8 , 2008 Lt Neubauer was piloting an F / A - 18D - 30 - MC Hornet ( Lot 12 ) , BuNo " 164017 " , from VMFAT - 101 , based at MCAS Miramar . Along with several other VMFAT - 101 aircraft , he was conducting day and night carrier qualifications ( catapult launches and tailhook arrested carrier landings ) aboard the aircraft carrier offshore 60 miles southwest of San Diego . Neubauer was the only crewmember on board the two - seat aircraft . After taking off from the carrier at 11 : 11 a . m . , Neubauer reported an oil caution light for the right engine , and shut it down after efforts to clear the problem failed . After declaring emergency , he was first directed towards Naval Air Station North Island , but was redirected by superior officers to his home base of MCAS Miramar when about away from North Island . Neubauer attempted to make an arrested landing at Miramar but the jet lost power in its second engine while on final approach . Eyewitnesses reported the jet flew slowly eastbound at a low altitude and was dumping fuel ( which is not uncommon for an emergency landing ) . The pilot said that as he broke through the clouds at , his left engine ' s thrust slipped dangerously low , and he unsuccessfully tried to start the right engine . The left engine lost more thrust , before its generator dropped offline and the jet lost electrical power . The jet flew over University City High School and crashed into the residential area just past the school about two miles from the Miramar ' s runway 6L . Neubauer waited " until the last possible moment " to eject from the plane , bailing out at an altitude of just , having attempted to steer away from homes on the ground before the crash . He ejected successfully , landing in a tree in Rose Canyon , just behind a home . The jet crashed into the University City residential area at Cather Ave and Huggins St ( between the high school and exit 24 of I - Interstate 805 ) , destroying two houses and damaging three others . A total of 4 residents in one house , two women and two young children , were killed . Neubauer was taken to a military hospital and treated for unspecified mild injuries , and reported being " horrified " by the crash at that time . Killed on the ground in one home were Young Mi Lee , 36 ; her 15 - month old baby , Grace ; her 2 - month - old newborn daughter , Rachel ; and her mother , Suk Im Kim , 60 , who had recently arrived from South Korea to help care for her daughter ’ s newborn . The other house destroyed belonged to John and Sunny Wu , who lived there with their two daughters . None of the family was home at the time of the crash , but the home and everything in it were lost . Aftermath . In the aftermath of the crash , University City residents renewed previous calls for the US military to relocate aircraft from the base to a more remote location . In a counterpoint , homeowners in University City signed disclosure forms saying they were aware of overflying jets and that this " . . . extraordinarily rare event . . . got enormous publicity [ and ] the risk of living in University City and having a plane fall on you is millions to one . " Miramar was also the location of the Navy Fighter Weapons School before it was moved to the more remote Naval Air Station Fallon . Marine commanders apologized for the crash and defended the decision to order Neubauer to land at Miramar instead of North Island , which isn ' t surrounded by residences , stating that double - engine failures are extremely rare . Said Colonel Christopher O ' Connor , Miramar ' s commander , " We are not contemplating changing our emergency procedures at this time . We very seldom fly over the area . We take being good neighbors very seriously . " On December 15 , 2008 , Marine officials stationed in South Korea helped receive Suk Im Kim ' s remains at Incheon International Airport and transport them to her home in Damyang . The next day , United States Forces Korea commander General Walter L . Sharp sent a delegation to Kim ' s home headed by Republic of Korea Army Major General Yong - goo Jang and U . S . Marine Corps Major General Frank Panther to express condolences to Kim ' s son - in - law , Dong - yun Yoon . As of July 2010 , in claims had been paid by the government . Young Mi Lee ' s husband , Don Yoon , publicly forgave Neubauer during a news conference the day after the crash . Said Sunny Wu of the crash , " I don ' t want to blame anybody . I think everyone makes mistakes sometimes . Just as long as you can learn from your mistake , it ' s fine . " In July 2010 , Yoon sued Boeing and the United States government for an unspecified amount . In the suit , Yoon alleges that the government violated many of its procedures in its operation of the mishap aircraft and that Boeing was responsible for the defects in the aircraft ' s fuel systems which caused the crash . Yoon later stated that the compensation offer from the US government for the loss of his four family members and his home was " insulting " . Yoon ' s lawsuit against the US Navy was heard in a federal district court in San Diego in December 2011 . On 28 December 2011 , U . S . District Judge Jeffrey Miller awarded Yoon , his father - in - law , and mother - in - law ' s three adult children a total of $ 17 . 8 million in damage compensation from the U . S . government . The US government appealed the award , and the appellate decision is pending . The Wu family lived in a temporary home for two years until their home was rebuilt . Their homeowner ' s insurance did not cover all the cost of the reconstruction , temporary lodging expense , or replacement of all their lost possessions . More surprising , according to the Wu family , is that they have yet to receive any compensation from the US Navy . The family has filed a lawsuit against the US government for compensation for their damages . Said Sunny Zhuang - Wu , " I didn ’ t know the military would be so difficult . " Four other lawsuits against the US Navy for crash damage are pending . Investigation . On March 3 , 2009 , an investigation by the Marine Corps concluded that the accident was preventable . The report was generally scathing in its criticism of the conduct of the participants including : the pilot , the commander of the squadron involved , its top maintenance officer , operations officer , and operations duty officer , all of whom were relieved of duty as a result of the investigation . Nine other Marines have received other disciplinary action . From the report , it appeared that the jet in question had a known track record of trouble in its left engine for several months . Maintenance was deferred after mechanics detected problems in the fuel flow system , a practice that was allowed at the time under established maintenance rules and procedures ( since altered to forbid this practice ) ; the aircraft had flown 146 times since the problem was identified . When the right engine was shut down due to low oil - pressure , the left engine did not receive enough fuel for flight , leading to the crash . Forty similar aircraft throughout the fleet have been grounded to investigate similar fuel issues . Following the pilot ' s report of the failure of the jet ' s right engine , controllers aboard the " Abraham Lincoln " , as well as a civilian air traffic controller , directed the pilot to land at NAS North Island – the closest divert field . Squadron officials , however , ordered the pilot to land at MCAS Miramar after a brief discussion , which the investigation deemed " collectively bad decision - making by the duty officer , by the operations officer and by the squadron ' s commanding officer . " The pilot also failed to consult his emergency procedures checklist during the emergency , as well as unnecessarily lengthening his approach to Miramar by making a 270 - degree left turn after bypassing North Island , rather than a shorter 90 - degree right turn . Specifically , the report criticized Neubauer for not questioning the order to divert to Miramar more forcefully , which he had briefly questioned . The squadron operations officials had underestimated the urgency of the situation , and placed undue emphasis on returning the pilot to his home field , having in mind the pilot ' s familiarity with that base , the longer runway , and better repair resources . Despite criticism , Neubauer was returned to a probationary flight status and allowed to resume training in late April 2009 , in a decision made by Lieutenant General George J . Trautman , III , the Deputy Commandant for Aviation .