What is Digg?212 Comments
- Heywoodj, on 12/10/2008, -5/+48Not to defend this but I'll bet Miramar afb was there long before your house was built.
The population density is the reason the Air force has been transitioning these squadrons to Elgan afb in Florida. Not fast enough to help in this case but they were on it. - alexvalentine, on 12/10/2008, -0/+41As a pilot, I dugg this one down. The statement about aging is completely inaccurate. There has been no determination about the cause, and no indication that it was age related. When properly maintained, Aircraft can operate for a very long time.
- zephyrnug, on 12/10/2008, -0/+36things break down. ever had a problem with your car? things stop working sometimes.
- FeartheKnighted, on 12/10/2008, -13/+43Was your house built before March 3, 1969? No? Didn't think so. MOVE THE ***** AWAY from the Marine base that has been there since the 60's if you don't want fighters flying over your house. I guarantee you that Miramar was the boonies back in '69. Also, if you had taken the time to read to the article, you would have seen the rest of his quote which was "Losing a couple of F-18s a year is normal," said Pike, "It's clearly the family that's the newsworthy component of it, unfortunately.".
Ignorant dumbass. - KRJ35, on 12/10/2008, -0/+29It's a Marine base.
- vtnerd, on 12/10/2008, -0/+27I'm not a military sympathizer by any means, but a few thoughts.
First, Pike, the guy saying this is normal, is not part of the military at all. He runs a website according to the article. He's not picking flight plans or deciding to fly aging aircraft over anyone's house.
Second, and this is unrelated, but I really feel bad for the pilot. It would be hard to live with yourself after an accident like this. - Sainthax, on 12/10/2008, -3/+29I don't know why everyone is making a big deal of this...I'm a pilot, stuff breaks, I have to be ready for it. The downside is most fighter bases have towns around them, and before anyone goes whining about bases being too close to houses keep in mind 95% of those bases were there before the houses.
Way too many armchair pilots making a big deal out of a random tragic accident. - VonBargenJL, on 12/10/2008, -0/+21expensive stuff STILL breaks.
passenger jets fail sometimes too and youll lost 300 people AND $300,000,000 plane...submarines sink, boats flip over...everything has flaws...
as for govt/military maintenance, allow me to quote Armageddon:
Rockhound: "You know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it? "
planes might be $50+ mil each but its still cheap parts.
i was stationed on miramar for the last crash in 2006 as a maintenance manager. i got to see the wreckage when they were diagnosing the problem in the scraps in the hanger. these kids who repair the planes do 12 hour days for 5 days a week (7 when on a ship) and in my 4 years i only saw 2 crashes. one was a CH-53D where one part was missing and it caused the entire tail rotor to fly off while in flight. no deaths there but you cant escape human error either in maintenance of the entire thing OR in fabrication of the parts - Tynan, on 12/10/2008, -0/+19Buried as being inaccurate. The cause of this particular crash is still unknown - it wasn't definitely caused by "normal aging", that's just a supposition at this point.
- farfromhere, on 12/10/2008, -0/+17I could be wrong on this, but aren't most jets fly-by-wire? Without power, it has all the maneuverability of a concrete block. Heroics probably wouldn't have saved it. And I'm sure the pilot did everything he could to avoid a dense area.
And even if he did manage to drop it on a road, you have cars there, and the jet still would've exploded and set fire to everything.
It could've been much worse. - danrez06, on 12/10/2008, -2/+19Are the F/18s too old? What a stupid headline. The Air Force still flies B-52s. Last time I checked they were slightly older than the F/18s that came into production in 1987.
- Khast, on 12/10/2008, -0/+16@BuyMore You know, structurally, things fail..and no amount of repair will prevent it from failing.
- SpeedSteamBoat, on 12/10/2008, -2/+17Alright, just keep that in mind the next time you have a choice of almost certain death and the potential endangerment of strangers you can't even see.
Oh, you never have to make that choice? Well, then maybe you couldn't possibly understand it and should shut the ***** up.
You're no hero. - Firefoot, on 12/09/2008, -10/+22I thought it was because he got distracted while changing a CD?
- m0zzie, on 12/10/2008, -0/+11This is about the 4th highly retarded comment I've seen you make today.
EDIT: After looking into your comments history, it's become very apparent that you're a complete and utter ***** douchebag. - Juaquin, on 12/10/2008, -0/+11Miramar was effectively the middle of nowhere when Top Gun was around. Top Gun left because of this reason - people were bitching about the volume of planes going through and the noise, and they had to travel too far to run exercises.
- cleovii, on 12/10/2008, -1/+11No one expects the plane to crash. Like you said, accidents happen.
- baharlou, on 12/10/2008, -1/+11F-18s undergo much more stress than B-52s
- mnemy, on 12/10/2008, -38/+48Wow that article makes me angry. That plane crash 1 mile away from my house. I understand that accidents are unavoidable. But the way that guy shrugs it off as unimportant and completely expected is complete *****. If you expect these planes to crash, DONT ***** FLY OVER OUR HOUSES! Go move your airstrip to far less populated areas. This plane didn't crash in the boonies. Imagine how you'd feel if you went to work one day, and came back to a dead mother, wife, and daughter because some military training exercise that you have nothing to do with went wrong.
- randomname6a7, on 12/10/2008, -0/+10Buried - The author is a moron who undoubtedly pulled some random report and thought "This will do". Hold the speculation. And the irrelevant facts.
There are a few diggers who've made good points, here... And a number of clueless loudmouths. - Jeepinator, on 12/10/2008, -0/+9Actually pilots are the most intelligent and skilled people in the military. They got out and did something with their lives while you made ignorant comments on a little known website. Go ***** yourself.
- Sainthax, on 12/10/2008, -1/+10Navy required two engines for sea/carrier operations, do your homework.
- shaun3000, on 12/10/2008, -1/+10Well I meant to mark this as inaccurate but buried it on accident. At any rate, the title and description is misleading as is the article. The airplanes engines failed, which doesn't have anything to do with the leading-edge flaps. The failure could have been caused by normal, age-related wear-and-tear, or it could be something else; no one knows.
- peters1023, on 12/10/2008, -0/+9I'm not sure how I'll sound but.....
America has THE most technologically advanced and sophisticated military on the planet.
I'm SURE they don't like losing a 32 million dollar aircraft (that's the correct number). Or the pilot they trained to fly it. - redscofield, on 12/10/2008, -0/+9it was however a Marine Corps plane from a Marine Corps base... the Air Force doesn't fly F-18s... they fly F-15s, F-16s, and F-22s, among others, but no F-18s... the Navy and Marine Corps fly those... just an FYI... but you are totally correct that domestic housing continues to encroach on military bases and eventually this is bound to happen... The pilot had little he could do, and thank God he wasn't among the fatalities...
- maz2331, on 12/10/2008, -0/+8You do realize that all pilots are commissioned officers, and that the first qualification (one not waived under any circumstances) is a Bachelor's Degree?
Not just any "dumb assed redneck" can get commissioned, and of those who do, only a few are selected as pilots. - omgwtflawl, on 12/10/2008, -1/+9Air Force doesn't use F-18s
- Virgule, on 12/10/2008, -0/+7I don't know who dugg you down but you are damn right. You won't see a B52 pull a 7G break. They fly straight and level then a few looooooooong turns back home. They can last. Fighter can't last as long.
- maz2331, on 12/10/2008, -5/+12Uh, why did you move into a house that's on the flight path of any sort of military base (or commercial aviation for that matter)?
The air base doesn't need to move - you do.
And if your house was built after the base was, well, it sucks to be you. Deal with the risk or take the loss. Next time. be smarter about where you move into - if there's a ***** RUNWAY on the map, don't buy there.
It's not hard to understand, really. - hansk, on 12/10/2008, -0/+7Same, I've been flying for nearly 10 years and have never seen an official report saying that the cause of an aircraft's accident was due to "aging."
poor maintenance - yes
airmanship - hell yes - existentialduck, on 12/09/2008, -26/+33"Losing a couple of F-18s a year is normal" - nice to see our tax dollars at work
- Shadowlight5, on 12/10/2008, -0/+7I agree, the loss for the family is indeed harsh but even the pilot who lived will be feeling it for a while. I woudl imagine himself asking questions in hindsight for quite a while
- jenrzzz1, on 12/10/2008, -0/+6F/A-18
- peters1023, on 12/10/2008, -0/+6You really shouldn't worry. The F-16 will have people working on it for 5-10 years AFTER its retirement. And its replacement the F-35 will be hiring.
- Ryfi, on 12/10/2008, -0/+6except the F-4 was designed to be a high speed interceptor rather than a medium weight attack aircraft. F-18 is a far superior dog fighter than the F-4. The two planes have entirely different roles...it's like swapping an orange with an apple and still calling it an orange.
- mapfelzweig, on 12/10/2008, -0/+5* Marine Corps Air Station
- m0zzie, on 12/10/2008, -0/+5Lame or not, the submission I made gained 5000 diggs. And honestly, I'd much rather make a lame submission than be an arrogant bigot with a big mouth. Seriously, shut the ***** up.
- Steezus, on 12/10/2008, -1/+6Wow, you are so smart. Thank you for dropping that knowledge all over my face.
- psevium, on 12/10/2008, -0/+5747, 777, A340 and A380 are all $250mil+
- SpeedSteamBoat, on 12/10/2008, -2/+7That guy doesn't work for the military or have anything to do with those decisions. He also has very little clue what he's talking about. When a plane has a less than 1% failure rate calling any crash "normal problems" is at best an extreme stretch of the truth and at worst an exaggerated lie.
At any rate, it's not as if this is a normal occurrence. Sure, they lose a few planes a year, but they don't typically fall on to occupied houses. This a very unfortunate accident, not a crime. - peters1023, on 12/10/2008, -1/+6Technically you're way off base. The F-16 is way too light to handle the beating a F-18 takes during landings and take-offs. Also I'm almost certain that the thrust produced from the F-16 isn't enough to get it in the air from a carrier. Different roles need different designs.
- CDRaff, on 12/10/2008, -0/+5A fighter like the F/A-18 has a 1:1 glide ratio and it may be less. That is saying that a Hornet without an engine is a 23million dollar brick.
- poopdigger, on 12/10/2008, -0/+5Not to defend the guy who lives near the crash, but "John Pike, Director of GlobalSecurity.org" is basically just some guy who thinks he's important. He doesn't represent the military, or anybody relevant- he may come off as a douche, but I'm pretty sure the Navy takes these kinds of things very seriously.
- redscofield, on 12/10/2008, -2/+7really? Don't fly over our houses? if the military builds a base, and then housing begins to surround that base, whose fault it that? should the military stop training their pilots? the fact of the matter is that your city council decided that it was profitable to zone more and more area around the base as acceptable for housing... more tax dollars... if you're pissed off at anyone it should be them... the pilot and the military are only doing their job... Training in case ***** happens and they have to a do a job that might end up protecting your house, your job, and maybe your very life... before you pop off at the mouth, you might want to think the whole process though a bit...
- maz2331, on 12/10/2008, -1/+6Except, of course, for the fact that the dumb-asses get assigned to jobs like "cook" or "infantry" - not "avionics technician".
- noahhoward, on 12/10/2008, -1/+6@storm You're the one bitching about it, not the family. You don't like where the base is, you move. Yes this is tragic but it was still not the military's decision to build and buy houses there.
- TunisEleven, on 12/10/2008, -0/+5You need to kill yourself out of stupidity.
- bigballerrob22, on 12/10/2008, -0/+5The local news media here in San Diego actually stated that a former aviator went to go help the pilot out after he had landed from parachuting, and said the pilot told him that "He attempted to set the plane down in the canyon" which was very close to the house. it's tragic, but the pilot tried his hardest to avoid the houses. =/
- LilRabbitFooFoo, on 12/10/2008, -0/+4Buried as inaccurate speculation by an armchair commentator without any facts about this particular case whatsoever.
- tghd, on 12/10/2008, -1/+5This article is rubbish I read the first paragraph and I was finished. Camp Kearny is no longer it's just MCAS Miramar and Top Gun hasn't been in Miramar since the base transitioned to a Marine Corps base. That was 12 freaking years ago.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 216 discussions
Digg is coming to a city (and computer) near you! Check out all the details on our 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is