US Marine pilot killed in F/A-18 crash over California

A US Marine Corps pilot has been killed after crashing with his F/A-18 fighter jet at a military airbase in California.

The incident occurred on Thursday night, when the jet went down during a training mission at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Lieutenant General Jon Davis, Marine Corps deputy commandant for aviation, said Friday.

An investigation into the crash was underway to find out the reason of the crash, he said, adding that the name of the pilot would be released after his immediate family was informed.

According to witnesses at Marine base, the jet broke apart midair and erupted into a fireball during a dive to deliver ordnance.

This was the fourth F/A-18 warplane that the US military has lost in a crash since late May, when two upgraded Super Hornets collided during a routine training mission.

In June, the US Navy’s Blue Angels aerial acrobatics team lost one of its pilots in another F/A-18 crash.

Budget cuts, problems in procuring spare parts are among a variety of issues that have dramatically reduced the amount of training flights undertaken by Marine Corps and other US military pilots.

During his statements on Friday, Davis admitted the problem and said he was “not happy and not satisfied” with the number of flight hours Marine pilots are getting.

According to Marine standards, Hornet pilots need an average of 16.5 hours of monthly flights. However, Davis said last summer that figure was cut to six to nine hours per pilot.

In a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on readiness, Davis

Retired US Navy Commander Chris Harmer says pilots who get flying time of less than 10 hours per month are “a danger to themselves and their fellow Marines.”

Between October 2014 and April 2016, The US Navy lost over $1 billion in damages caused by accidents, according to data by the Naval Safety Center.

The US military has been increasingly facing questions over its training methods after losing some 30 airmen in 2015 alone.

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