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Mechanical breakdowns compounded by human error led to the crash of a US marine jet in December that killed four people on the ground, the marines said. The jet was having engine problems and attempting to land at Miramar air base in San Diego when it crashed…

The F-18 fighter jet destroyed two houses in suburban San Diego after the pilot ejected out of the aircraft when it lost power approaching Miramar air base. Four members of one family were killed, including two babies, their mother and their grandmother, who was visiting from South Korea.

The right engine of the plane gave out with an oil leak shortly after it took off from the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln on a training flight, marine Col John Rupp told a news briefing.

Instead of opting to land at Naval Air Station North Island, on the tip of a peninsula in San Diego Bay, the pilot attempted to make it to Miramar Marine Corps Air Station – several miles inland with residential communities nearby.

North Island is approached over water and there are fewer buildings to hit if things go wrong. Air traffic controllers told the pilot three times that he was cleared to land at North Island, flight tapes released by the Federal Aviation Administration revealed.

As the jet approached Miramar, its other engine failed and the pilot safely ejected.

Didn’t do folks on the ground any good, though.