F/A-18 crashes in San Diego

A family who watched the Marine F/A-18 crash into a fireball from their living room leave their home with their belongings. (An earlier version of this caption incorrectly said the aircraft belonged to the Navy.)  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Marine investigators view the engine and wreckage of the F/A-18 jet that crashed in University City.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque places flowers from neighbors of the victims as a memorial to the family members who died when the military plane crashed into their home.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A military jet flies over one of the homes damaged in Monday’s crash of an F/A-18 fighter in University City, a residential San Diego neighborhood.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

As the search continues for a child missing after the crash of an F/A-18 jet fighter in San Diego’s University City area, neighbors Dawn Angelon, left, Elizabeth Rose, center, and Pia Sud, right, gather in Rose’s garage, where the jet clipped a tree as it crashed.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Looking for a missing child, Pam Medhurst of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department search and rescue unit uses a dog to probe the wreckage of an F/A-18 jet that crashed in the University City neighborhood.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Mary Jane Dean looks over the wreckage left by Monday’s crash of a F/A-18 fighter near her home in San Diego’s University City area.”I did not sleep last night,” Dean said, “All I could see was the fire and the smoke and debris ... it’s devastating.”  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters work the scene after an F/A-18 military jet crashed into two homes in the University City neighborhood of San Diego, killing three people. The pilot ejected before the crash.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A San Diego firefighter sprays down the wreckage. One of the jet engines landed in the street.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A firefighter in HazMat gear works the scene after an F18 fighter jet crashed into 2 homes in University City killing 3 people in north San Diego on Monday.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Fire rages in San Diego’s University City neighborhood, where an F/A-18 military jet crashed during a training exercise. Officials said two people were killed but the pilot was able to eject safely.  (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images)

Police and fire officials said the jet crash, which occurred just before noon, destroyed one home and damaged another.  (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images)

Neighbors said they heard sputtering, saw the military jet wobbling, and then it crashed, creating a ball of fire.  (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images)

Marine officials told The Times the pilot was part of a training squadron and that he was trying to aim the plane at a deserted canyon to avoid slamming into homes. The crash created a fireball.  (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images)

A resident hoses down his home as fire rages at the site of the F/A-18 jet crash in San Diego’s University City neighborhood.  (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images)

The F/A-18’s pilot had parachuted out of the jet and landed in a field at nearby University City High School.  (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images)

Residents of San Diego’s University City neighborhood comfort one another after the crash. A grandmother and two children who lived in the house that was hit are reported missing, officials said.  (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images)

A firefighter at the crash scene in San Diego.  (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images)

Smoke billows from homes in the University City section of San Diego, about two miles from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, after the crash. One home was destroyed.  (Denis Poroy / Associated Press)

A man helps battle flames caused by the F/A-18 crash.  (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images)

The plane that slammed into the University City neighborhood and caused a fire was part of a training squadron and had taken off from the carrier Abraham Lincoln several miles off the coast, officials said.  (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images)

Firefighters head to the scene of the jet crash in San Diego.  (Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images)