Comments on: Man whose family was killed in military jet crash: No hard feelings

By: Man whose family was killed in military jet crash: No hard feelings « Top Daily Digest Reading

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 08:25:17 +0000

[...] Learn more here. [...]

By: DSchoen

DSchoen — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:33:29 +0000

Noneya
“never have, but even if there was only 1 second left to control the direction of that crash I would have given my life to do just that.”

When you lose the engines you lose the hydraulics and electrical as well. There is NO CONTROL.
The pilot could no more control that plane than if it were a rock falling to ground.

Now if you plug in the crash location using google earth, you will see the OBVIOUS that the pilot was heading for the canyons.

This is the address

4416 Cather Ave 92122

By: shooten

shooten — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:47:34 +0000

I watched the smoke and fire from office. It’s a risk that we take living and working here. There were so many ~~assinine~~ disgusting people in the paper yesterday blaming the pilot and military and advocating the removal of Miramar. I would ask them to look at the example of the man who lost the most, Mr Dong and leave their blatant political agenda until the ground is cool. The Marines take every precaution and err on the side of safety. They are very good neighbors. I hope that everything is investigated properly and there is no political witch hunt.

By: kongzilla

kongzilla — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:33:51 +0000

I would have given my life to do just that.

Noneya on December 10, 2008 at 4:30 PM

Sure, because everyone knows how much libs believe in sacrifice.

By: exhelodrvr

exhelodrvr — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:33:01 +0000

crscott,
“There certainly was a major pilot error as his plane should not have been in that position and altitude to begin with”

You do realize that for a plane to land, you need to get to a low altitude first, right?

By: RDuke

RDuke — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:38:12 +0000

I don’t know the answer to your question and yes I was too hasty to condemn the actions of this pilot. I was sad and angered after viewing the video. I hope I’m wrong and this pilot did do everything he could before the crash but nothing will bring those lives back.

Noneya on December 10, 2008 at 6:51 PM

Both are understandable emotions coming from viewing the video and hearing the story. I too hope you are wrong, and would be shocked based on my own experience if the pilot did anything less than all he could. I would imagine he is still wondering if he would be better off had he not pulled it.

Nothing will bring those lives back – and that includes rushing to judgment – either way – in this incident.

I appreciate your considering the additional info/facts provided.

By: dave_lantos

dave_lantos — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:15:34 +0000

whiskeytango,
I think G-d prevents these things from happening all the time. I guess those daily miracles just never make the headlines.

By: grapeknutz

grapeknutz — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:42:57 +0000

God bless the family and God help the pilot. The pilot will agonize over this and relive this forever. My prayers for the family and especially the pilot.

By: Passed

Passed — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:59:08 +0000

I am grateful for them as well but when a pilot ejects and his plane kills innocents on the ground he has a lot to answer for, whether he is military or not.

Noneya on December 10, 2008 at 9:38 PM

As opposed to staying in it.. crashing it and adding himself to the death toll? You defy reason and logic.

By: dec5

dec5 — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:54:38 +0000

May God comfort the dad for his loss….Mr Dong’s ability
to forgive can only have been inspired by Christ.

By: theregoestheneighborhood

theregoestheneighborhood — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:09:14 +0000

Ever been to Guam? Our tiny island has the best family/community support system during trying times. (albeit some are infected with entitlement mentality!)

geckomon on December 10, 2008 at 10:37 PM

Briefly. Very nice place, and I liked the people, though I really didn’t stay long enough to get to know them.

BTW, for those unacquainted with Guam, it is considered part of the U.S., which is ironic because it’s far better known to the Japanese who visit it like we do Hawaii or the Caribbean.

By: geckomon

geckomon — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:37:58 +0000

The older of you may remember a time when bad things happened (as they will) and no one necessarily sued, but the community came together, passed a hat, cooked a covered dish and took care of their own (amazingly enough without government intervention)

@ntif@n on December 10, 2008 at 7:03 PM

Ever been to Guam? Our tiny island has the best family/community support system during trying times. (albeit some are infected with entitlement mentality!)

Nevertheless, I have repeated this comment on other threads, Dong Yun Yoon is the strongest man in the world. There is no bigger man.

By: Charles Martel

Charles Martel — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:30:50 +0000

And I was sugar coating it!

One more thing. EVEN if our warriors error, if it was in good faith, I will give them the benefit of the doubt. I will not put our young men in harms way and then stand by and second guess them like a sniveling poltroon. You should go back and watch that video. That Korean immigrant can teach you a great deal about respect and love of country.

By: dmann

dmann — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:29:15 +0000

My prayers are with both Mr. Dong and the pilot. Military aviation is a cold, hard and unforgiving enterprise with virtually no margin for error. That said, this pilot had his hands full trying to nurse a damaged aircraft back to base, it appears he was on a straight in approach to 06L instead of the 24R (which is used for 99.9% of landings at Miramar because it avoids the residential areas, regardless of the wind direction ) this would indicate a severe problem with the aircraft. Most likely this will be attributed to an uncontained disk failure in one engine which ultimately compromised the other engine leading to a total engine failure with the ensuing lose of electrics and hydraulics. Unfortunately this event occurred at a point in the approach where there was very little if anything the pilot could do. Far to many aircrew have lost their lives trying to get a crippled bird home, the pressure to save the taxpayers dime is insidious. For those that speculate about control and timing there’s a terrific video out there of the 1st F14 crashing while on landing approach, its amazing the 2 test pilots got out alive. One more rant, I know of no officer that would ever refer to the aircraft as a weapon or the base operations staff as culprits in this type of accident.

By: Charles Martel

Charles Martel — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:27:11 +0000

Noneya,

My problem with your posts is your reflexive assumption that the pilot was in error, your inclination to blame our military men, your reluctance to give our brave warriors the benefit of the doubt. Frankly, I’m sick and tired of those of your ilk that cast aspersion on our military and our nation with your bilious, vile, noxious attitudes. Damnit, I love my country. I have enormous appreciation for our fighting men. And by golly, I intend to give them the benefit of the doubt. Until and unless they are proven to have fallen short I will stand by them.

You probably jumped on the Haditha bandwagon all the while patting yourself on the back for your putrid moral superiority. Moral exhibitionists such as yourself who would sacrifice the reputations of our fighting men for their own self promotion are despicable.

By: Sapwolf

Sapwolf — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:20:39 +0000

Imagine him forgiving rather than lashing out.

Must be a Christian. Crazy Christians.

Bless’em.

By: whiskeytango

whiskeytango — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:51:37 +0000

This wonderful man has forgiven the pilot for his loss of his family. I can imagine the pilot is going through he** now. Some things are out of our hands, but God helps each deal with these horrible things that happens in our life if we let Him.
L

letget on December 10, 2008 at 4:14 PM

Why didn’t god just prevent this from happening? I mean to supernaturally help one to cope would be a miracle but to prevent this from ever happening would be even more godlike. Anyways my heart goes out to this fella.

By: @ntif@n

@ntif@n — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:48:44 +0000

sheebe
I am going to look into that.

Noneya
Sorry to jump on the dog pile. I can’t say that I am not guilty of posting something without thinking it through.

Seriously folks in this day and age of hot coffee lawsuits it really is refreshing to have someone acknowledge that bad things happen and not treat the situation like a winning lotto ticket…

Maybe if more people encouraged good behavior…

By: Noneya

Noneya — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:38:09 +0000

Fair enough. I do feel sorry for you that your first instinct is to not to trust that a member of our military did the very best he could to spare innocent lives.

For my part, I feel grateful by the work our men and women in uniform do every day and am awed by the military hardware our engineers and technicians provide them.

Y-not on December 10, 2008 at 7:17 PM

I am grateful for them as well but when a pilot ejects and his plane kills innocents on the ground he has a lot to answer for, whether he is military or not.

By: Sir Napsalot

Sir Napsalot — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:45:59 +0000

I think we’re being a little hard on noneya.
MechEng5by5 on December 10, 2008 at 5:25 PM

NO. The halfwit brought it upont itself.

I was sad and angered after viewing the video. I hope I’m wrong and this pilot did do everything he could before the crash but nothing will bring those lives back.
Noneya on December 10, 2008 at 6:51 PM

After letting emotions/feelings overcome the senses, the troll DISH OUT first on the honor of the young pilot.

After repeatedily being called out by others more knowledgeable, the fool stuck the foot in its mouth more firmly than ever by uttering even more foolishness.

By: SC.Charlie

SC.Charlie — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:41:30 +0000

My heart goes out to Mr. Dong and his family……….and the pilot.

I had a college classmate who lost his life in the Naval Reserve doing practice landings on a carrier. And, I remember that Dean Martin lost his son, Dino, who was in the Naval Reserve while flying his F-4 Phantom.

By: sheebe

sheebe — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:13:06 +0000

@ntif@n on December 10, 2008 at 7:03 PM

There is an address you can get to write Mr. Dong.

By: sheebe

sheebe — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:10:21 +0000

never have, but even if there was only 1 second left to control the direction of that crash I would have given my life to do just that.

Noneya on December 10, 2008 at 4:30 PM

My daughter in law lives a mile from where that happened. It is to difficult to find any space to crash a F/18! It is crowded with houses. The Pilot lost both engines. He had no choice. How could you wish the pilot would have crashed in it? That is pretty sick thing to say. A man lost his entire family. Yet, he understands what those F/18′s stand for. Mr. Dong is the Hero! It was tragic both ways. Now, this pilot has to live with this for the rest of his Life! Bless his heart too. I think that is bad enough. Very sad story.

By: right2bright

right2bright — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:34:45 +0000

I am vaguely familiar with the area, I would bet that the pilot felt sure the plane was on a course that took it out of any residences…but to put it in technical terms, the plane was obviously goofy.
You can bet the pilot is in deep shock, they are not trained to bail out and “let it be”.
And hopefully the man can resist the temptation (I pray he does) of the attorneys, but I also hope, with a minimum of red tape the Armed services takes care of him…

By: Y-not

Y-not — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:17:00 +0000

I don’t know the answer to your question and yes I was too hasty to condemn the actions of this pilot. I was sad and angered after viewing the video. I hope I’m wrong and this pilot did do everything he could before the crash but nothing will bring those lives back.

Noneya on December 10, 2008 at 6:51 PM

Fair enough. I do feel sorry for you that your first instinct is to not to trust that a member of our military did the very best he could to spare innocent lives.

For my part, I feel grateful by the work our men and women in uniform do every day and am awed by the military hardware our engineers and technicians provide them.