That Plane Falling From the Sky Reminds Me of Something

By Travis Lee Hunter
The Raw Intelligence

That F-18 that fell from the sky and wiped out some poor family in University City reminded me of something.
It reminded me of a couple years ago when I was covering the debate surrounding the San Diego Regional Airport Authority, and what eventually became Proposition A to relocate the international airport currently at Lindbergh Field to Miramar.
San Diego International Airport needs to move. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s right fucking downtown. This is 100 percent unique in major metropolitan areas. You don’t pull up into the Staples Center parking lot when you fly into LA, you don’t scrape the top of the Empire State Building when you fly into New York, you don’t fly over…um…whatever the fuck is in Denver when you fly into Denver. But fly into SD, and you drop right over the goddamn I-5 and, if you’re on the left-hand side, you’re so close to the downtown skyline you can look into the window at Mr. A’s and figure out who’s having lobster and who’s having steak.
This is why SD’s downtown skyline is so stumpy and pitiful. This is why SD’s airport checks in at less than an acre when most major airports are 10 times that size. This is why SD’s airport will reach maximum capacity within the next couple decades and severely restrict the growth and prominence of the city.
So anyway, the fucker needs to move. Problem is, the airport authority, which spent three years and millions of dollars studying possible locations, did a shit-lousy job of it. They single-mindedly focused on Miramar, proposing to share it with the Marines, who said no fucking way from the very beginning. But the airport authority pressed on, ignoring better options like snagging some land in Camp Pendleton or putting it in the desert east of SD. Why? Pure laziness, I think. A lot easier to try to muscle into an existing airport than worry about where it’s going to fit in North County or how you’re going to get people from East County into the city center quickly.
Miramar would still have been a much better spot than the current downtown location, but when San Diego voters were given the choice, they did what they always do when presented with an opportunity to change.
They said, “NO!”
This is the mantra of the San Diego voter: “Change? NO!”
Anyway, back to the Marines, who are the ones who killed that poor family in University City. The whole time they were arguing against sharing Miramar with the civilians, one of their main arguments was, “We can’t have fighter pilot trainees taking off next to jetliners!”
They made it sound like they were just tossing new recruits into fighter jets, hanging a “Pilot In Training” sign on the back and then sending them on their way. And considering what happened yesterday, shit, maybe that’s what they are doing.
Initial reports from the scene said the pilot told bystanders that his first engine went out over the Pacific Ocean, then “a decision was made” to try to get back to Miramar rather than dumping the crippled plane in the water.
Translation: The Marines thought the $30 million price tag for a new F-18 was worth the gamble that the thing might drop out of the sky and kill a few people.
Which brings me to my point. FUCK YOU, MCAS Miramar. You didn’t want to share Miramar with us, well guess what. We don’t want to share our airspace with you. Get the fuck out of San Diego.
And FUCK YOU, San Diego Regional Airport Authority. You had a chance to get the commercial airport into a sensible location, and you blew it. Imagine the casualties if that were a commercial jetliner that crashed and burned. That’s a reeeaaally rare occurrence, but considering that 80 percent of plane crashes occur immediately before, during or after landing or takeoff, I’d watch my head if I lived in Mid-City or Loma Portal.
Anyway, sorry this was such a fucked-up ramble, but I’m all pissed off right now. Both MCAS Miramar and SD International Airport need to get the eff out of San Diego proper.
Here’s the Airport Authority’s site, complete with contact info:
http://www.san.org/Airport_Authority/index.asp
Drop ‘em a line and tell them what douchebags they are.