Jet Crashes, Navy Fliers Eject North of Scripps Ranch

Two crewmen parachuted to safety from their F-14 Tomcat fighter Friday moments before it crashed and exploded in a canyon just north of Scripps Ranch. The crash occurred shortly after the $35-million jet had taken off from Miramar Naval Air Station.

Witnesses told authorities they saw the airmen--identified as Cmdr. John R. Davis, the pilot, and Lt. Bill Minnich, the radar intercept officer--eject from the aircraft, then heard three loud explosions as the jet plummeted to the ground about a mile east of Interstate 15, north of the Miramar Reservoir in the Cypress Canyon area.

“Quite a few people called us and they all said it was strange,” Navy spokesman Lt. Ed Mapes said. “They said it was quiet and the aircraft was making no noise. It could lead you to believe possibly that the engines shut down.”

The cause of the 10:30 a.m. crash is under investigation.

Davis and Minnich were taken back to the base, where they were examined by a doctor, Mapes said. Both officers were attached to Miramar-based squadrons--Davis to VF-191 and Minnich to VF-154.

Navy officials credited the airmen with staying with the aircraft long enough to maneuver it clear of populated areas. The crash site was about one mile north of Scripps Miramar Ranch, about two miles northeast of Mira Mesa, and about four miles northeast of the air base.

“Eyewitness accounts do indicate that they did everything possible to stay in the plane as long as possible to get it over populated areas just before it crashed,” Lt. Cmdr. Ellis Woumnm said. Witnesses said that the crewmen, both described as veteran aviators, landed 50 to 100 yards from the crash site.

Mapes said Minnich, who is from Westerville, Ohio, had flown at least 2,000 hours in the Tomcat. Mapes said Davis was his squadron’s executive officer and had logged significant flight time in the F-14.

About 65 firefighters from the San Diego Fire Department and Poway were summoned to the canyon area to battle a two-acre blaze triggered when the jet crashed.

A Fire Department spokesman said firefighters had trouble reaching the site because of the poor access roads through the rugged terrain. Spokesman Larry Cooke said the only roads in the area are better suited to four-wheel-drive vehicles.

The blaze was extinguished in about three hours.

A Sheriff’s Department helicopter, which had helped in transferring the pilots out of the area to the Naval air base, aided firefighters by dumping water on hot spots, Cooke said.

The F-14 and its equipment currently costs $35 million, according to the Navy.

In recent years, the Navy has been paying more for the aircraft and obtaining new engines, electronics and radar that will help make it a better weapon.

Friday’s crash was the first this year involving an aircraft operating out of Miramar, where there are about 700 flight operations daily, according to the Navy. An F-14 from Miramar crashed near San Clemente Island in 1986, and an F-8 crashed in Sorrento Valley in 1985 shortly after taking off from the base.