Disabled Jet Jettisons Bombs, Fuel Over Base, Lands Safely

A jet fighter with engine trouble jettisoned six 500-pound high-explosive bombs, six inert practice bombs and two fuel tanks over the Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro Friday morning before landing safely at the base. The bombs were unarmed and did not explode.

There was little danger, said Lt. Shawn Cooper, a Marine Corps spokeswoman, since the bombs must be activated by the plane’s bombardier-navigator before they can explode.

The bombs landed on a base runway and were defused by a Marine Corps ordnance team, Cooper said. Although one of the fuel tanks burst into flames on impact, emergency crews, waiting at the drop site, quickly extinguished the flames.

Officials from the City of Irvine, which borders the military base to the west and south, expressed concern about the incident, and the city’s police chief, Leo Peart, said that Irvine’s new Public Safety Commission will hold hearings in January on how the Marine Corps manages its aircraft.

According to Cooper, the A-6E jet developed engine problems immediately after taking off at about 7:15 a.m. on a training mission near the desert community of Twentynine Palms.

She said the plane immediately jettisoned its six Mark-76 high-explosive bombs, another six inert practice bombs and two fuel tanks on the air station’s Runway 25. The jet then flew east toward the mountains, made a right turn and landed safely on the same runway at 7:20 a.m.