Marines Say Lieutenant Showed "Unacceptable Lack Of Assertiveness"

Public officials and news media in California have obtained the US Marine Corps report on the December 8, 2008 downing of an F/A-18D into a San Diego neighborhood... and it raises at least two troubling questions.

As ANN reported, the jet impacted a home two miles from Miramar, killing four people on the ground. The pilot was able to eject from the fighter moments before impact, after the plane lost power to its second engine. The first had failed as the plane was en route to the base from the USS Abraham Lincoln.

In the days following the accident, Marine Corps officers said the pilot followed proper procedures in attempting to reach Miramar on one engine. Transcripts of radio exchanges between ATC and the pilot, released earlier this month, revealed the pilot passed up two closer landing opportunities after the aircraft's first engine failed.

That apparently wasn't the whole story, however. While the heavily-redacted report -- obtained by The Los Angeles Times under the US Freedom of Information Act -- offers few new details beyond what the Corps has previously released, it does reveal the young trainee pilot followed orders from superior officers to overfly dense residential development to try and make it to Miramar, when he passed up a closer available runway with an approach over open water at North Island Naval Air Station.

The Corps has since relieved four officers of duty, a sanction which could end their careers. Still, Lieutenant Dan Neubauer -- who was identified in local media reports but not in the report -- is criticized in the USMC report for "...an unacceptable lack of assertiveness even given his lack of experience," for not questioning the orders to proceed to Miramar.

"It had gone right into a house," Neubauer is quoted as later recalling to investigators, as he saw the plane impact the home. "I screamed in horror when I realized what had happened."

The report also confirms a fuel problem with the plane was known to maintenance personnel for months before the crash, but dismissed as not important enough to ground the plane. Eight Marines and a sailor have been reprimanded for their roles in that decision.

The Corps' report classifies the accident as "avoidable." Lt. Neubauer, described in the report as exhibiting "no unsafe trends or questionable judgment" during his training, will be evaluated to determine whether he'll complete his training for deployment.

FMI: www.marines.mil