Oh, the sorrow continues. I’m watching the local news right now. The victims are a 35-year-old mom (I didn’t catch her name), her 15-month-old daughter Grace, her 2-month-old daughter Rachel, and her 60-year-old mother. They’re interviewing the man who just lost his whole family in an instant. So so sad. He’s shaking. Literally, shaking. Ah, my heart goes out to him. He doesn’t blame the pilot, he says, the pilot did the best he could.
A military aviation expert is interviewed, defending the pilot. Good. The pilot had taken off from an aircraft carrier off the coast. He lost an engine — and ultimately both engines. To answer the criticism that he should have gone back to the carrier, the expert said that he couldn’t land on the carrier with less than 80% power. It could have been fatal to the entire ship. Well, what about heading to North Island Navy Base (on Coronado Island, where Air Force One always lands), the man was asked. That’s no good, he says, because he’d have to fly over downtown in a compromised jet. So he headed inland for Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. That was the best possible option, but there’s nowhere from the coast to Miramar where he would NOT have been flying over some homes. He could only attempt to mitigate damages as best he could.
So, yeah, anyone wanting to give the pilot grief needs to stop. He’s going to be dealing with enough. He ejected from his plane at the absolute last second, apparently, and got to witness his jet hitting those homes. Can you imagine? He’s going to have enough to deal with. He did his best.
Please pray for the pilot and that poor man who lost his home and family.
This is so sad. I feel bad for the whole community, and I’m praying.
This is so awful.
The pilot went where he was told to go. His superiors should have had him ditch and eject over the ocean instead of flying over a neighborhood putting people at risk.
JLW-
there was no reason to destroy the jet just because one engine went out; it’s not a *common* thing, but it’s not exactly rare, either.
Think of it as having two blow-outs; the guy was on a dangerous curve when the first blow-out happened, so he tried to get somewhere that would be safe for him and everyone else. Then the second one blew.
I’m sick at heart, too– I was stationed down in that area, and my squadron worked on those jets.
Foxfier,
Perhaps you are correct, but what about this?:
“What’s unclear is why the pilot chose to land at Miramar, which involves an approach over heavily populated La Jolla and University City, instead of North Island Naval Air Station, which could be approached entirely over water. Military officials have not said where the Abraham Lincoln was operating.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20081210-9999-1n10jet.html
We are all sick at heart at this catastrophe, but feelings do nothing to fulfill God’s Law, which demands that culpability be assessed–and if found repentance,restitution and redemption follow. God does not desire that we wallow in our feelings–he wants us to do justice under His Law. This does not mean having a lack of compassion for the pilot or those giving the orders–but compassion cannot replace appropriate consequences.
Our Lord does not accept our excuses for “collateral damage” when we destroy his human creations–whether through negligence or intent. God is sovereign–human reason is not.
Should culpability be found in this instance, the application of His Law should follow.
Sue Bob/JLW: It sounds like Miramar was deemed the closest place for him to attempt to land the plane. I mean, changing directions to fly to North Island/Coronado — depending on where he was in the air — would have involved flying south over homes as well. Depending on where he was, North Island/Coronado is not necessarily approached “entirely over water.” He lost one engine, then another. He didn’t have time. It looks to me, because I know the area, as if he tried very hard to land it in one of the many canyons in that area.
Also, on the issue of culpability. There’s God’s Law and man’s law, right? I mean, God’s Law — Old Testament style, is what I infer from that phrase — would demand the death of this pilot. “Eye for an eye,” etc. Even Christians do not follow The Law as laid down in the Old Testament because we believe Jesus came to fulfill that law and create a new covenant of grace.
I guess I’m confused by:
Should culpability be found in this instance, the application of His Law should follow.
Does this mean death to the pilot? Death to the commanders who dictated his route? I don’t know. The America I understand doesn’t work that way.
The widower himself is calling for grace, acknowledging it’s a terrible accident, asking people to pray for the pilot so he won’t suffer in his life. The man has actually said this. His faith and grace are humbling to me.
I’m not saying don’t investigate. By all means, find out what happened, what was wrong with that plane, institute better emergency protocols, etc. But this was not a deliberate destruction of human life. It was a horrible horrible accident.
Amen, tracey.
When that widower said in his press conference, “I know that this pilot is one of the treasures of this country …”
I honestly don’t know if I could behave with such grace, and I am really humbled before him, like you said.
“Also, on the issue of culpability. There’s God’s Law and man’s law, right? I mean, God’s Law — Old Testament style, is what I infer from that phrase — would demand the death of this pilot. “Eye for an eye,†etc. Even Christians do not follow The Law as laid down in the Old Testament because we believe Jesus came to fulfill that law and create a new covenant of grace.”
Of course it does not mean death to the pilot. The Bible has explicit instructions regarding restitution in the case of unintentional homicide. It means compensation. Restitution has been given a dirty name by plaintiff’s personal injury lawyers because it has become a way to enrich them rather than a required step for redemption when one wrongs another.
Jesus did not take one jot or iota from God’s Law. God’s Law (the 10 Commandments and the case law which bring it to 613) are the fulfillment of loving one another. Mushy feelings do not take the place of doing justice with regard to your neighbors. Grace is not the opposite of Law. Lawlessness is the opposite of Law. As you can tell, I am not a dispensationalist.
At this point, we do not know the culpability of the pilot. He was inexperienced and probably had to rely on others to call the shots. The shots that were called must, in the interest of justice, be evaluated–including your comment about the other air station.
One must ask oneself whether or not–as a member of the military who committed to preserving the lives of his countrymen–he had a duty to stay with the plane to the end in an attempt to steer it into the canyon. I know that you do not consider his life more valuable than the lives of the innocent mother and children on the ground. Civilian pilots have sacrificed themselves rather than endanger those on the ground. Look at the case of Alaska Flight 261.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,996050,00.html
I have great compassion for the pilot. He will have to live with this for the rest of his life. Making restitution is one of God’s ways for one who has wronged another to achieve redemption and regeneration.
JLW — Restitution, fine. No problem with that.
You win, Counselor.
JLW- as per the body of the post, the folks we know to be expert explained why the pilot headed where he did; he would have had to fly over *down town* to go to the strip they suggest.
http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=North+Island+Naval+Air+Station&geocode=&dirflg=&daddr=University+City+High+School&f=d&sll=32.706422,-117.201805&sspn=0.227644,0.316887&ie=UTF8&ll=32.770533,-117.188416&spn=0.234409,0.316887&z=12
(sorry for the messy link)
A is their suggested target; b is where he was headed; as he flew over La Jolla, that means he’d have had to go across the *entire* of San Diego’s down town.
Imagine an F-18 hitting this:
http://www.pbase.com/merriwolf/image/53682708
I don’t know why the authors of the article you link didn’t bother to find that out, maybe it was released after their deadline?
I’m sure the military will pay the surviving family member something, whether or not culpability is ever verbally admitted or not.