The State : Jet Fire Leads to Flight Curbs

A wing commander at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station has banned night over-water flights of his F-A-18 Hornet jets because the latest in a series of unexplained Hornet engine fires forced a pilot to parachute into the chilly ocean after dark. The Monday night crash of the $23-million twin-engine fighter-bomber about 60 miles off San Diego led to the decision, said Maj. Gen. D.E.P. Miller, commander of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. The wing includes three F-A-18 squadrons, each with 12 aircraft. “I don’t want to lose a pilot,” Miller said. “He (the pilot) was very lucky to have been picked up. If he had been out there overnight, he probably wouldn’t have made it.” The pilot, 1st Lt. Thomas A. Drechsler, 25, of Mission Viejo, was treated for back and neck pain.