pThe family of four people killed in the crash of a Marine Corps jet in a San Diego County neighborhood two years ago sued the federal government and Boeing Wednesday./ppThe lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court by Dong Yun Yoon, whose wife, two daughters and mother-in-law were killed in the December 2008 crash that incinerated two homes and damaged others in University City./ppThe suit accuses the military and Boeing, the aircraft's maker, of negligence and seeks unspecified damages./ppThe military disciplined 13 members of the Marines and Navy after the crash, which was blamed on mechanical problems and a string of bad decisions that led the pilot to bypass a potentially safe landing at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado./ppThe suit claims the F-18 Hornet had a history of warnings and system failures related to its fuel system and never should have been cleared for takeoff./ppCalls to Boeing after hours Wednesday were not immediately returned./ppCourt documents accuse the Marine Corps of making decisions in violation of written military standards, which if complied with would have avoided the tragic ending./ppFour members of a Korean family were killed in their home — Young Mi Yoon, 36; her daughters Grace, 15 months, and Rachel, 2 months; and her mother Suk Im Kim, 60. Kim was visiting from South Korea to help her daughter move across town and adjust to the arrival of her second child./ppThe pilot, Lt. Dan Neubauer, described in a statement to investigators how he struggled to control the malfunctioning jet in the minutes before the crash./ppThe pilot was on a training flight from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln when he was forced to shut down one engine because of mechanical trouble. The hobbled jet was told to bypass a coastal Navy base that offered an approach over water and to instead fly inland over San Diego to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar./p |
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