200,000 See Jet Crash at El Toro Air Show; Pilot Critical

An estimated 200,000 spectators watched in horror as a supersonic fighter jet crashed Sunday afternoon during an Orange County air show, critically injuring the pilot.

None of the huge crowd at the 38th Annual Navy Relief Air Show at the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro were hurt.

The pilot of the F/A 18A Hornet, Marine Col. Jerry Cadick, 45, of Evansville, Ind., was taken by military helicopter to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

Although the extent of Cadick’s injuries was not immediately known, the Marine Corps said the flier was in critical condition.

“The jet crashed in between a taxiway and a runway in the middle of the field” about 1,000 yards from the spectators, Lt. Shawn Cooper said.

Witnesses said the crash of the twin-engine fighter produced a shower of sparks but no visible fire.

An Irvine police officer, who saw the crash while directing traffic off base, said the plane appeared to stall as it made a loop maneuver.

“He came in low and kind of stalled,” said Officer J. L. Eppstein. “It was like he couldn’t get it going. The tail hit the ground. He slid for a ways and then hit a (dirt) mound. I saw a lot of smoke and a lot of sparks, but I didn’t see any fire.

“When he stalled, it was like getting your car stuck in the mud. It just sort of stalled and didn’t move.”

“He (the pilot) was going up in a wide loop, and it looked like he was coming in too low, and the plane started shaking like it was trembling,” said another eyewitness, Craig Hurley, 14, of Fountain Valley, who was in the audience.

“He hit the runway and started skidding. It was like he was landing without landing gear and looked like it just belly-flopped. The nose hit first and then the whole belly hit.”

Lan Vu, 15, of Fountain Valley, who was also in the audience, said, “The pilot looked like a real pro, because he was making some outrageous loops. But when he came on the last one, he was just too low. He must have skidded 500 feet along the runway.”

Cadick is commanding officer of El Toro’s Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, the Marine Corps said.

The accident was the second major crash in three years at the annual air show.

On April 27, 1985, a civilian pilot and his passenger were killed when a World War II-vintage plane they were flying crashed into an empty chapel on base.