Military officials commented Wednesday about an F/A-18 fighter jet that made an emergency landing at MCAS Miramar overnight.
The jet was on a routine training mission and had just taken off from the USS Nimitz when "the pilot made a judgment call and declared an emergency," according to Major Manuel J. Delarosa of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, because the aircraft was low on fuel. There were no injuries, and the actual landing was routine "once the pilot straightened out," Delarosa said.
When pilots declare an emergency, they are given the option of going to the nearest suitable base for safety. The jet made a traditional east to west landing, which is the opposite direction of the attempted emergency landing last December in which an F/A-18 jet crashed into a University City neighborhood and killed four people. The officer at the controls of that jet was a Marine pilot. The pilot of Tuesday night's emergency landing was a Navy flyer.
The military is not saying where the jet was headed, although it was part squadron VFA-86. That squadron is also known as the Sidewinders and is based out of Beaufort, S.C.
It is unlikely any more information about the incident will be released Wednesday by the Marines, according to MCAS Miramar officials.
