US military Harrier jet crashes into California homes

SAN DIEGO: -- A US military jet has crashed into homes in the California desert, about 90 miles (144km) east of San Diego.

Television reports show at least one home on fire on a residential street in the city of Imperial, following the crash on Wednesday evening.

The pilot ejected safely, and has been transported to a local hospital.

Cpl Melissa Lee of the US Marine Corps told the BBC the AV-8B Harrier jet stationed in Yuma, Arizona, had crashed, hitting "civilian homes".

She said the search and rescue operation was continuing and there were no details yet about whether anyone on the ground was hurt.

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27709387


-- BBC 2014-06-05

tragic. I hope there are no casualties

I think most of the Harriers were taken out of services due to issues of crashes. Great idea for limited space.

I think most of the Harriers were taken out of services due to issues of crashes. Great idea for limited space.

No, not unless you're making a distinction between Harriers and Harrier IIs (AV-8B). Not with the USMC anyway. (As a matter-of-fact, the RAF and RN are selling their remaining AV-8Bs to the USMC.) The F-35B (STOVL variant of the F-35) is supposed to start replacing AV-8Bs with USMC this year, but as expensive as the F-35s are, I would expect that to take several years. The AV-8Bs actually have more service life remaining than the FA-18s. However, I'm pretty sure the Harrier production line has ended. Accident rates, although comparatively high for the AV-8B, are simply not the driver.

I saw signs of this yesterday. I was on a call in Brawley, which is very near to Imperial. As I was driving back to San Diego on Hwy 8, I saw a large plume of smoke, but could not see what it was coming from. I assumed it was a brush fire, due to the incredible heat and dry conditions.

it was the north koreans they have a new top secret technology that can take down any plane anywhere on the planet. be afraid, be very afraid.