Marine Pilot Critically Hurt in Crash at El Toro Air Show

As about 300,000 spectators watched in horror, a fighter jet crashed Sunday afternoon while giving a solo aerial exhibition at the annual air show at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The pilot, a much-decorated Vietnam War veteran, was critically injured.

The F/A-18 Hornet struck a runway at the Marine base while coming out of a loop, witnesses said. None of the observers at the 38th annual Navy Relief Air Show was hurt.

The pilot was Marine Col. Jerry Cadick, 45, who is stationed at El Toro and lives in San Clemente. Cadick, who was not originally scheduled to fly the jet, was airlifted after the crash by military helicopter to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

Collapsed Lung, Broken Ankle

Cadick, a native of Evansville, Ind., suffered a collapsed lung, internal injuries, a broken ankle and facial cuts, according to Maj. Gen. Donald E. P. Miller of the air station. He was reported in critical condition.

Witnesses said the plane crash produced a shower of sparks but no visible fire.

An Irvine police officer who was directing traffic off base but in viewing distance of the crash said the plane appeared to stall as it made a loop over a runway area.

“He (the pilot) came in low and kind of stalled,” said Officer J. L. Eppstein. “It was like he couldn’t get it going. The tail hit the ground. He slid for a ways and then hit a (dirt) mound. I saw a lot of smoke and a lot of sparks, but I didn’t see any fire.

“When he stalled, it was like getting your car stuck in the mud. It just sort of stalled and didn’t move.”

Marine Cpl. Kent Fletcher, a spokesman for the air station, confirmed that Cadick “was performing a loop maneuver during his portion of the demonstration.”

Cadick’s flight came about an hour before the scheduled aerial acrobatics of the Navy’s crack Blue Angels flight team, which flies the same the type of plane. Cadick is not part of the Blue Angels.

Miller said that the cause of the crash is unknown and that a military investigative team will look into the accident. Miller said one thing that will be investigated is whether “the engines had skipped a beat” at a critical point in Cadick’s maneuver.

‘A Great Pilot’

Miller said Cadick had flown the same aerial loop many times before. Miller described Cadick as “a great pilot.”

Cadick received many decorations for service in Vietnam, among them the Single Mission Air Medal for flying three bombing runs in a one-man air raid on enemy forces in 1967.

Cadick was not the person originally scheduled to fly the aircraft. The printed program stated that Capt. R. A. Karwowski, who is also stationed at El Toro, was to fly the plane during that part of the air show.

Cadick, who is commanding officer of El Toro’s Marine Aircraft Group 11 of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, is Karwowski’s superior officer. The air station’s public information office said Sunday night it did not know why the captain did not fly as scheduled or why the colonel took his place.

The accident was the second crash in three years at the show. On April 27, 1985, a civilian pilot and his passenger were killed when the World War II-vintage plane they were flying crashed into an empty chapel on base. About 200,000 spectators viewed that crash.

In the 1985 air show accident, the pilot was Merrel Richard Gossman, 55, of Canoga Park, a former Marine pilot who was demonstrating an AT-6 trainer. His passenger was Robert G. Arrowsmith, 25, who was stationed at the El Toro air station’s medical clinic. Both were members of the Condor Squadron, a club that performs mock aerial fights during shows.

Blue Angels Performed

The air show Sunday continued after Cadick’s crash, and the Blue Angels performed their scheduled exhibition about 2:30 p.m.

The huge crowd departed without incident after the Blue Angels performance, air station officials said. The California Highway Patrol reported near-gridlock conditions, however, on county freeways.

The two-day air show began Saturday, when events ended earlier than scheduled because of rain. The Blue Angels performance was canceled. Sunny weather Sunday apparently boosted attendance for the second show, according to the CHP.

The F/A-18 is built by McDonnell Douglas and can fly at more than 1.8 mach, which means almost twice the speed of sound. The single-seat fighter costs $18.5 million per plane.

In 1984, the Navy temporarily grounded the jets because cracks were found in the tail assemblies of about half of 100 planes that had been inspected for such problems. McDonnell Douglas blamed a “design error” for the flaw and in the fall of 1984 made modifications to correct the problem.

Times staff writers George Frank and Hugo Martin contributed to this story.