Flier Dies of Injuries From El Cajon Crash : Pilot Stable, 2 Others Hospitalized as Navy Looks to Hydraulic System as a Factor

A Navy flier died Tuesday of injuries suffered when he and a fellow aviator ejected from their disabled jet over downtown El Cajon Monday shortly before it crashed upside down at Gillespie Field.

Lt. (j.g.) Randy L. Furtado, 27, the radar intercept officer on the F-14A Tomcat, died at Sharp Memorial Hospital at 1 p.m., apparently of a broken neck, but the exact cause of death has not been determined, a Navy spokesman said.

Lt. Cmdr. Jim Barnett, 36, who was at the controls of the jet, suffered a broken arm and heel. He was transferred from Mercy Hospital to Navy Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition Tuesday. Three people on the ground at Gillespie Field were injured when the jet slammed into two hangar buildings and burst into flames. Two remain hospitalized.

Navy investigators spent Tuesday looking into the cause of the crash, but said a hydraulic system failure apparently was a factor. Navy personnel cordoned off the crash site and remained in charge of the scene.

Damage Estimates

Lt. Cmdr. Robert Pritchard, a Navy spokesman, said damage estimates were being prepared and that those who lost buildings or property because of the crash will be compensated.

Barnett and Furtado were on a routine training flight over the Pacific on Monday when the plane began to malfunction, Pritchard said.

Following instructions in a Navy manual, they turned back toward land to attempt a landing at their home base at Miramar Naval Air Station, but crashed about 10 miles short of the base.

“The aircraft was operating in the operating area off the coast,” Pritchard said. “They developed a partial failure of the hydraulic system while they were still out there.”

Such a failure is one of many emergencies covered in the pilots’ manual called NATOPS, an acronym for Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization, Pritchard said.

Pair Followed Procedure

Barnett and Furtado followed the standard NATOPS procedure for the situation, which called for them to return to their base, taking a 10-mile landing approach, Pritchard said. The long, flat approach would minimize the plane’s dependence on the malfunctioning hydraulic system, Pritchard said.

Wind conditions dictated that the 10-mile descent take the jet over El Cajon, Pritchard said.

The crew did not try to land at North Island Naval Air Station, whose airstrip is on San Diego Bay, “because it wasn’t a real emergency at that point,” Pritchard said.

From the time the trouble developed over the ocean to the point where they abandoned the fighter over El Cajon, Barnett and Furtado were in radio contact with the control tower at Miramar, Pritchard said. “They were talking to a lot of people. They would be talking with the squadron leader. He had NATOPS out,” Pritchard said.

Pilots also carry with them an emergency “flip pad” of NATOPS instructions, he said. “But I guarantee they’ve got it memorized.”

Gear in Lowered Position

The fact that the jet’s landing gear was lowered indicates that the hydraulic system was still functioning, at least in part, while the jet was over land, he said.

Navy regulations do not specifically address the issue of emergency landings in populated areas, Pritchard said, but added that, as a matter of course, pilots try to guide crashing planes away from populated areas.

In Monday’s crash, the crew stayed with the plane until the last possible moment, he said.

When they abandoned the jet, about 3 miles from the crash site at Gillespie Field, the pilots apparently had lost all control over the plane, which was doing barrel rolls, according to witnesses. The airmen ejected while the plane was upside down.

Pritchard said any Navy accident investigation could result in a change of NATOPS instructions, a decision that would be made in Washington.

Earned Wings in 1987

Furtado, of San Lorenzo, Calif., joined the Navy in October, 1985, after graduating from San Jose State University, Pritchard said. He earned his wings on May 1, 1987, and was assigned to a squadron at Miramar.

He is survived by his wife, Michelle, a daughter, his parents, two brothers and a grandmother.

William Grant, 35, a civilian injured in the crash, was in serious condition Tuesday at Sharp Memorial after the loss of one leg. Helicopter mechanic Brian Jolliffe, 40, remains in critical condition at UC San Diego Medical Center with severe burns over a third of his body.

Bill Eulrich, 39, was discharged Tuesday from UC San Diego Medical Center after being treated for smoke inhalation.

Cleanup efforts at the crash scene were on hold Tuesday while the Navy conducts its on-site investigation, said James Ramey, Gillespie Field’s property supervisor.

No runways or taxi areas were damaged, he said, and the airport, which caters mostly to single-engine craft and small twin-engine planes, has returned to normal business levels. Gillespie handles about 17,000 takeoffs and landings per month, he said.

The north-south runway nearest the crash site was closed Monday night for security reasons, he said.

The F-14 destroyed 10 small hangars, three large maintenance hangars, five planes outside, seven inside and seven helicopters, and damaged three other helicopters, said Dick McDowell of Safari Aviation.

McDowell said he will meet with insurance representatives and the Navy and believes his insurance company will reimburse him and then seek a settlement with the military.

“The Navy’s created the problem and they will have to pay for it,” he said.

A pilot himself, McDowell said he doesn’t blame the Navy, although he said the crash wiped out half his business.

Also Tuesday, the managing partner of the company that owns the two damaged hangar complexes estimated that rebuilding will cost about $1 million. McDowell said it will take another $1 million to repair or replace the damaged helicopters and planes that were in and around the hangars.

The Navy puts the cost of an F-14 at $33.5 million, but Defense Department budget documents for fiscal 1989 show that the average cost of a new F-14 with all the equipment and spare parts necessary to operate it is $73.3 million.