Calif. Man Seeks Help After Jet Crash Kills Family

That was the AP's headline, but only because "Man Stands Unsupported and Devastated After Heartless Military Won't Tell Us Why Plane Crashed--Military Must be Scrutinized by Congress to Make Sure Planes Don't Start Dropping Out of Sky" was too long.

*self-editing for the sake of civility*

You've probably heard the general outlines of this story, but maybe not the details that put it into heartbreaking context for all involved.  Let's start with the AP's version...

First rule they've followed is to take the most obvious point and focus on that in order to ignore the noble and surprising things the man actually said. Here's the opening:

Overwhelmed with anguish, Dong Yun Yoon walked unsteadily to a pile of rubble where his home once stood and pleaded for advice on how to cope after losing his family.

His wife, two children and mother-in-law were killed when a fighter jet lost power and crashed through their home and burst into flames.

Walking out the door one morning and returning to find three generations of your family gone is a horror those of us who haven't experienced recoil from even contemplating.  That the man is not stark raving mad at this point is a tribute to his strength of mind.

AP continues:

A day after the tragedy, Yoon held a news conference to ask guidance from people who have suffered "more terrible things."

"Please tell me how to do it," he said Tuesday, surrounded by his pastor, sister and brother. "I don't know what to do."

And that's where the AP goes completely off the tracks.  Watch the entire news conference and you cannot honestly argue that was why he held the conference.  His "request" was nothing more than those two sentences, a spontaneous rhetorical outburst in the middle of remembering his beloved family, the shock of it all... and expressing some of the most noble patriotism and Christian charity this country has seen in awhile.

Patriotism and Christianity?  Well, AP can't highlight those, can it?  They soft-pedaled some of it, and left off the rest of it entirely.

Yoon, sobbing into a tissue at the foot of his destroyed house, also asked for prayer for the jet's Marine pilot, who ejected safely from the F/A-18D Hornet after his training mission went awry Monday.

"I don't have any hard feelings," Yoon, 37, told reporters. "I know he did everything he could."

Actually, it was much more than that.  His statements went far beyond the charitable impulse of not blaming someone for an accident. 

Those of us who know that area know that the plane went down with severe engine trouble (multiple eye-witness reports say there was no engine sound and the plane was wobbling) on final approach to the runway, about 150 yards from the relative safety of a canyon. Had the pilot managed to remain airborne literally only a few seconds more, it would've cleared the houses and the freeway, and crashed harmlessly in the empty field at the base of the runway.

Even with what appears as of now to be catastrophic engine failure, the pilot will spend the rest of his life wondering what minute adjustments he could have made at any time during that flight that would've given him at least another 150 yards at the end.  As fellow aviator Lex put it, "It’s bad enough to stack every chip you’ve ever learned on a bet and lose your own life. Far worse to walk away and leave a hole in your wake.  It’s every pilot’s nightmare, one of those things you don’t admit even to yourself." 

If there's a hell, that pilot is now living it right along with the grieving Mr. Yoon.  And that's what makes Mr. Yoon's full statement so extraordinary. 

Here's how a responsible news organization reported Yoon's words:

“Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident,” a distraught Dong Yun Yoon told reporters gathered near the site of Monday’s crash of an F/A-18D jet in San Diego’s University City community.

“He is one of our treasures for the country,” Yoon said in accented English punctuated by long pauses while he tried to maintain his composure.

“I don’t blame him. I don’t have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could,” said Yoon, flanked by members of San Diego’s Korean community, relatives and members from the family’s church."

Those words still leave me speechless and pierce my heart.  It took me a couple readings to understand what he really meant.  I finally mentally translated it to standard English as "He is our country's treasure."  Try to put yourself in that pilot's shoes and imagine what it would mean to have the father of the family your plane just decimated call you a treasure... 

Grace.  The name of his 15-month-old daughter who died that day, and a way of life for an amazing man.

The AP leaves off discussion of Mr. Yoon after that (no description of the faces and body language of the many people standing beside and behind him in support as he spoke--including the pastor of his church who never took his hand off Yoon's back), and turns its attention to the military.  Here is the entire next paragraph:

The military has given no official word on the cause of the crash, which incinerated two homes and damaged three others.

There's that heartless military, behaving as expected.  How dare they not release their incomplete and possibily erroneous initial analysis of a plane crash two days after it happened!  They're obviously trying to cover it up.  Well, don't you worry--the politicans are coming to the rescue with oversight and analysis!  Good thing they're such experts and can step in where the miltiary has failed!  *readjusting sarcasm control*

Next paragraph:

U.S. 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 said the fiery crash was apparently caused by power failure.

"My understanding ... is that the engines failed, causing the aircraft to lose thrust," Hunter spokesman Joe Kasper said.

*remembering that line about not saying anything at all*

California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer have also called for a swift investigation and explanation into the incident.

In a joint statement Wednesday, the two senators also urged the Marine Corps to review its fleet of F/A18-D Hornet jets.

The senators say early reports suggest the jet suffered catastrophic engine failure as it prepared to make an emergency landing Monday at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

They say the review of the entire fleet would help ensure that other jets don't have similar problems.

What a bunch of grandstanding tripe!  I'm just a civilian, but even I know that analysis of this crash is going to take a long time to get right.  I also know that if a complete analysis shows there was a structural/design flaw or a maintenance procedure that was at fault (or a training technique that failed under stress)--the Marine Corps (and the Navy, since they fly F-18s, too) will immediately check every single F-18 they've got or issue changes to maintenance/training procedures if applicable.  Short of the ships themselves, aircraft and the pilots that fly them are some of the most expensive equipment the Navy and Marines possess.  So if the military leadership were evil bastards, they'd still have an incentive to keep equipment functional and as durable as possible.

I know I've said this before, but I keep hoping for better from "professional" journalists.  The AP just completely missed the boat on this amazing story and supported the irrelevant posturing of the political class.  I suppose that in the end, their reaction (and that of the parasitic politicians) just highlights even more Mr. Yoon's extraordinary character, strength, and love.  Some have compared it to the suffering of Job, who lost everything and refused to blame God. 

He certainly seems to be among those who least deserve what he is experiencing.  But as good people so often do in times of terrible suffering, he offer us opportunities to learn.

If only the AP were teachable, too...

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Btw, Soldiers' Angels is collecting notes of support and encouragement for the pilot until Monday morning.  As I pointed out above, he's living a hell of his own right now.  If you'd like to contribute a note to him (name is Dan, he's a 28-year-old Marine lieutenant in flight training), you can leave a comment here or email beths[remove]@[remove]soldiersangels.org.

Support and encouragement to Mr. Yoon can be sent to:

Dong Yun Yoon
c/o Rev. Kevin Lee
Korean United Methodist Church
3520 Mount Acadia Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111