No Lives Lost as Jet Crashes in Parking Lot

A Navy plane from Miramar Naval Air Station crashed and burned in the parking lot of a Sorrento Valley high-tech industrial complex shortly after takeoff Monday, wrecking or charring 18 cars and causing $500,000 damage but miraculously injuring only two people in the heavily populated business area.

The pilot Cmdr. David Strong, a reserve officer from near Washington, D.C., ejected safely. He parachuted to the ground a short distance from the Sorrento Valley Road crash site, just northwest of the interchange of Interstates 5 and 805. He rushed to the site, grabbed a hose from firefighters and helped battle the flames.

One man was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital suffering from burns and an unidentified person was treated for minor injuries at the scene and released, Fire Department officials said. A hospital spokesman identified the burn victim as Norberto Mora, 34, from Hacienda Heights near Los Angeles.

Mora was in good condition with minor burns on his face, arms, hand and upper back, said Paul Omundson, hospital spokesman. Two firefighters also suffered minor injuries while fighting the fire.

A spokesman at the base, three miles southeast of the crash site, said the plane was an unarmed F8 Crusader photo reconnaissance jet. The cause of the 9:18 a.m. crash is under investigation.

Capt. G.E. Hakanson, commanding officer at Miramar, attributed the huge explosion that triggered a short-lived but spectacular fire to the fuel the jet carried.

“It wouldn’t have gone down if he (the pilot) was in control,” said Hakanson. “I know he was trying to get the airplane over the hill into the water (the ocean).”

The Sorrento Valley where the plane went down is a growing industrial area that employs about 4,000 people in dozens of high-tech companies. Jets taking off from Miramar fly over the industrial area before they reach the ocean.

A Navy spokesman said three jets from Miramar have crashed in civilian areas around the base since 1978. Other planes from the base have crashed in the ocean.

Navy spokesman Lt. John Semcken said that the plane’s engine caught fire shortly after takeoff.

“The pilot stayed in the airplane for longer than he should have,” said Semcken. He said that Strong did everything possible to extinguish the flames. The plane, which remained airborne for less than two minutes after losing power, had insufficient airspeed to clear a nearby hill and reach the ocean. When Strong ejected, the jet was about 250 feet above ground.

Witnesses said the fire triggered by the exploding fuel was intense.

“It was like napalm going off, the ball of fire was pretty dramatic. The pilot is a hero as far as I’m concerned,” said Glenn Kirkeby. “The guy stayed with it (the plane) as long as possible and tried to nurse it to a hill, away from the buildings.”

Kirkeby, a student helicopter pilot, was flying nearby with his instructor when he saw the plane on fire. He reported seeing “a good 50-foot flame” coming from the plane’s jet engine before it crashed and exploded.

The parking lot where the plane went down is located between two three-story buildings where about 280 people work. The sides of the buildings that border the parking lot suffered extensive burn damage, but nobody was injured. One building was clipped by the jet as it went down but lab technicians who work in the building were all in meeting rooms located on the opposite side from the crash.

Outside, the parking lot was a scene of devastation, littered with chunks of the crashed jet and smoldering automobile wreckage. In addition to the 18 cars that were destroyed in the fire, at least six others were badly damaged.

Damage was estimated at $500,000 by fire officials. The estimate covers damage to the buildings, plus the lost and damaged cars, but does not include the loss of the aircraft.

Authorities ordered other buildings around the crash site evacuated after police were told that toxic chemicals might have been stored in some of them. However, the fire resulting from the crash was quickly controlled and firefighters prevented it from spreading beyond the parking lot and a small storage area.

County officials dispatched two hazardous materials inspectors to the scene to determine whether any chemicals had escaped from one of the two damaged buildings. Two chemicals, trichloroethane and ethylene dichloride, were stored in the building where the Kyocera company uses them to manufacture computer chips.

Larry Aker, head of the county’s hazardous materials management program, said the two chemicals are not very dangerous. Aker said that Kyocera also has a license to use radioactive materials but those materials were stored at a different location.

Heinz Paulus, president of a medical diagnostic firm located in the building brushed by the plane, said he saw “the shadow of a metallic object” on his office window as the crippled plane past and then “a thud and explosion” when it hit the parking lot. The resulting fire produced billows of black smoke that hovered over the area and was visible for miles.

Witnesses said the pilot maneuvered the plane between Paulus’ building and the Kyocera building on Sorrento Valley Road before ejecting. The pilot’s ejection seat was recovered from the middle of Sorrento Valley Road, a few feet away from a landing wheel that broke off on impact.

Paulus said that about 30 people normally work in the various chemical labs located inside his building. But he said nobody was in the labs at the time of the crash because employees usually spend Monday mornings in meeting rooms on the other side of the building. The plane’s fuselage landed next to the building, where the force of the fire and explosion knocked a hole in the wall.

One side of the Kyocera building, where ceramics for electrical capacitors are manufactured, was charred by the fire. Inside the plant, some of the 250 workers screamed and ran in panic after the initial impact. Lab technician Nick Sapien said the initial explosion was followed by two or three smaller blasts.

“The building was shaken. There was smoke coming into the building,” said Sapien. “Dust was coming down from the ceiling.”

Nimrod Rodriguez, another Kyocera employee, said he tried to drive his car out of the parking lot when the crash occurred but was beaten back by the smoke and flames. His Honda was destroyed.

Robert Goodman, a Kyocera vice president, said Monday morning the plant would return to operation within a few hours. But many of the plant’s employees were not expected to return to work.

“Some of our people are visibly shaken. We’re concerned about their frame of mind,” said Goodman. “If it had hit our building, the fire from the aircraft would have done the most terrible damage.”

A Navy spokeswoman said that Strong had flown the plane to San Diego last week from Andrews Air Force Base in Landover, Md., just outside Washington, D.C.

(Also contributing to this story were Times staff writers Glenn Burkins, Scott Harris, Bill Ritter, David Smollar and Daniel M. Weintraub.)