Reverse Heroism

From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Barely 50 feet separated life from death for two families when a Marine fighter jet plunged into their University City neighborhood just before noon yesterday. A mother, her young child and the child's grandmother died at 4416 Cather Ave. when the disabled F/A-18D Hornet crashed into the house in a fiery explosion, authorities said. A second child was missing and presumed dead...The jet pilot had ejected safely and was in good condition at San Diego Naval Medical Center as of 9 p.m., said a hospital spokeswoman.

Now it's easy for me to say, but isn't it the duty of these pilots to stay with the plane until he's sure that civilians on the ground are safe? A look at Google Maps shows there's plenty of room around not too far from this house where the plane could have been ditched with no one being hurt, rather than obliterating a grandmother, a mother and her two children.

The pilot apparently made some effort to reach these uninhabited areas.

"He was making motions with his hand, like he was trying to throttle up, and he said there was no power," said Matthew Gorsuch, a former helicopter door gunner in the Navy who lives near the crash site. "He said he was trying to find a clearing, but he ran out of time." Through it all, Gorsuch said, the pilot had just one concern. "The only thing he cared about was where his plane had landed. That was the only thing he asked about. That was all he had on his mind."

A little late now.