Jet Crash Wiped Out Man's Family
Overwhelmed with anguish, Dong Yun Yoon walked unsteadily to a pile of rubble where his house once stood and pleaded for advice on how to cope with tragedy.
His wife, two children and mother-in-law were dead - killed by a fighter jet that lost power and by chance crashed through their home and burst into flames.
One day after losing his family, Yoon held a news conference asking guidance from people who have suffered "more terrible things."
"Please tell me how to do it," Yoon told reporters Tuesday, trying to contain his emotions with his pastor, brother and sister at his side. "I don't know what to do."
Yoon, sobbing into a tissue at the foot of his destroyed home, also asked the public to pray for the jet's Marine pilot, who ejected safely from the F/A-18D Hornet after his training mission went awry Monday.
Watch jet crash widow's tearful plea.
"I don't have any hard feelings," Yoon told reporters, speaking haltingly. "I know he did everything he could."
The military has given no official word on the cause of the crash, but a congressional aide who was briefed on the incident said the pilot had been attempting to land at a nearby base after his right engine malfunctioned. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not yet public.
While the pilot was on final approach to the runway, the aircraft also lost thrust from its left engine, the aide said.
Two homes were destroyed and three others damaged in the crash. Four vehicles were burned.
Dawn Lyons, who lives two blocks away, saw the pilot land. "I had heard the noises, and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, could that possibly be the pilot?' And I saw him pick up his helmet and start down the hill.
She told CBS affiliate KFMB-TV that she was the first to speak to the pilot and said while he did not appear to have any injuries, he was visibly shaken.
"He said, 'I was flying on one engine for about a hundred miles.'"
On the same street just a few houses away, Amy Sheridan had their own scare when the pilot's seat landed on her backyard fence.
She said authorities warned people not to get too close in the event not all of the ejector seat's rockets had detonated.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, called on the Marine Corps on Tuesday to release the maintenance records of all its F/A-18D Hornet fighters.
He also said the fiery crash apparently was caused by power failure and was likely unrelated to the previous discovery of cracks in hinges on the wings of more than a dozen of the $57-million aircraft.
"It is important that we gain a complete understanding of what went wrong," Hunter said.
Marine Cpl. Travis Easter said officials at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, where the plane was trying to land, had no immediate response to the request for maintenance records.
The Rev. Kevin Lee, associate pastor of the Korean United Methodist Church that Yoon attended, said the four victims include Young Mi Yoon, 36; her daughters Grace, 15 months, and Rachel, 2 months, and her mother, Suk Im Kim, 60. Lee said Kim was visiting from Korea to help her daughter move across town and adjust to the arrival of her second child.
Dong Yun Yoon emigrated from South Korea in 1989, learning English and becoming a U.S. citizen, church leaders said. He helped run his brother-in-law's stores - a coffee shop in a San Diego beach neighborhood and a variety store near the Mexican border, according to Michael Rose, a neighbor.
The family had moved into the area a few months ago or a few weeks ago, depending on who you ask, because they had outgrown their San Diego-area condominium.
Neighbors and church leaders said Young Mi Yoon was a religious woman who sought to balance family and career. She was preparing to become a registered nurse, her job in Korea.
Rose, 44, saw Yoon kiss his wife and baby goodbye in their driveway as he left for work Monday, about three hours before the jet fighter clipped a jacaranda tree, bounced off the pavement and crashed into the Yoons' home.
"I saw their last kiss," said Rose, a retired photographer. "I thought, 'What a beautiful sight,' and then later in the day they were just gone."