Close Call

Imagine sitting at home on a Monday afternoon, tending to daily chores and perhaps thankful for another beautiful day in San Diego. Then, imagine hearing the deafening roar of an F-18 jet soaring above your house, intensifying as each second passes. Living two miles from a military air station, you don’t give it much thought until the windows start to shake and the ground begins to tremble. And then in an instant your life is over.

Fire. Smoke. Destruction. An entire family taken from this earth in the blink of an eye on Monday December 8, 2008. A mother, two innocent babies, and a grandmother lost their lives when a disabled F/A-18D Hornet jet crashed into their home just seconds after the pilot ejected safely into the canyon below. The father was at work when he got the call. Imagine the overwhelming grief and pain that he must be experiencing. It is unbearable to think about.

I’m writing about this today because this could have very easily been my house. The jet crash occurred in my neighborhood of University City, just half a mile from my home. As word leaked about the crash at work, I rushed to a computer to watch the streaming footage online. For all I knew that was my street going up in flames. The black smoke was so thick I couldn’t discern the exact location. When the media released the street names, I was relieved to know they weren’t mine, but shocked at how close they were.

The pilot had to make a lightning-fast, critical decision when he jumped from that aircraft. I can’t imagine being in that situation, and I am so glad he is safe. The jet could’ve crashed into the nearby University City High School. It could have plummeted into the busy shopping center. It could have landed on the bustling freeway. The family that died yesterday made the ultimate sacrifice. The father has the be the strongest person I know (well, I don’t really know him but he’s practically my neighbor). Its hard for me to accept that two precious infants were killed, but at least they are with their mother and grandmother in heaven.

The details of the crash are just beginning to unfold and if you’d like to read more about it, just google ‘jet crash san diego’.

Click on this link (or the title of this blog post) to see a customized map showing the proximity of the crash site to my house (Courtesy of Google)

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=103904324086832382105.00045daabf244a94cebe2&z=16