‘Top Gun’ Jet Crashes at Miramar; Pilot Bails Out

An A-4F Skyhawk jet operated by the Navy’s elite Top Gun school crashed at Miramar Naval Air Station Thursday and ignited a brush fire. The pilot safely ejected from the stricken craft, the Navy said.

The pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Stanley R. O’Connor, 37, a Top Gun flight instructor, was approaching Miramar after a routine test flight when he radioed that the single-seat jet was losing power.

The aircraft, considered one of the Navy’s workhorses, crashed shortly after 10 a.m. in mountainous terrain 6 miles east of Miramar’s runways. The Navy is investigating the accident, which comes 13 days after an unprecedented 48-hour, Navy-wide stand-down for a safety review.

After telling Miramar air traffic controllers that his craft was losing power, O’Connor guided the single-engine Skyhawk to a remote part of the 24,000-acre Miramar complex, 13 miles north of downtown San Diego.

“He did a stupendous job of bringing it to a safe area before he felt he had no power in the aircraft,” said Chief Petty Officer Bobbie Carleton, a spokeswoman for Miramar.

O’Connor, an 18-year Navy veteran who lives with his wife in San Diego, parachuted to the ground after ejecting from the plane, Carleton said. He was not injured.

The brush fire scorched more than 40 acres of chaparral-covered terrain about 5 miles east of Interstate 15 in Sycamore Canyon, Carleton said. Smoke rising from the fire was visible for miles. Firefighters brought the blaze under control after six hours, Carleton said.

Only Wednesday, residents from the neighboring communities of Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, Tierrasanta and University City had gathered to voice their opposition to suggestions that Miramar be converted to a civilian airport for San Diego.

At Miramar’s Naval Fighter Weapons School, known as Top Gun, Skyhawks are used as adversary planes. They simulate Soviet MIGs in mock dogfights against F-14 Tomcats, the Navy’s top-line fighter. Actor Tom Cruise catapulted the school to national prominence with the 1986 movie “Top Gun.”

The accident is the second involving Navy aircraft in two days. On Wednesday, an SH-2F Seasprite helicopter plunged into the sea off Okinawa, killing one crewman and injuring two others including the pilot.