Five University City (UC) residents, including retired military personnel, have formed a civilian committee in an effort to oversee the Dec. 8 F/A 18 jet crash investigation, which demolished two UC homes, killing a family of four. “We [formed this committee] ourselves,” said Rick Ramirez, UC resident and retired naval commander. Ramirez retired in 2000 after serving 22 years in the Navy; he said newly elected District 1 City Councilwoman Sherri Lightner did not form the five-person UC Jet Crash Committee. “Sherri Lightner did not want to be involved. She did not want to find out more about the accident,” Ramirez said. “I feel like people are letting the case move slowly.” Lightner’s office said the councilwoman would work with the group. “If there is interest in a community group, it should be led by the community,” said Erin Demorest, Lightner’s council representative. “And we’ll be happy to work with them to get them the information they need.” Ramirez said he served as a naval flight officer and worked as a flight instructor at North Island training command. “It’s kind of fortuitous that I can assist the community,” Ramirez said. “My argument is that [the pilot] should have landed at North Island at runway 36, not over any houses at all … This is not a commentary on whether the military should stay or go. It’s to keep this from happening again.” Besides Ramirez, the five-person committee includes residents Ron Belanger, Bob Stein, Stephanie Jed and Pia Sud. “I’m in support of both the military and the community … So I can see both ways,” Ramirez said. “They’re still investigating, and I know these things take time. We’d like to have access to the investigation report when it’s ready.” Ramirez and other committee members said they would like to peruse the military’s full report, stemming from the Aircraft Mishap Board (AMB), but the group is not as concerned with the JAG (Judge Advocate General) report, he said. “The AMB is [in San Diego] because the squadron that owns the airplane is here,” Ramirez said, adding that the AMB took over investigating the crash almost immediately. “But there’s a lot we don’t know because we don’t have the MIR [Mishap Investigative Report].” Ramirez and the committee said their concerns include reasons why the pilot continued to fly over populated areas on one engine. “The aircraft crashed in UC but it flew over La Jolla — he could have gone down anytime, really,” Ramirez said. “The fact that an aircraft can fly on one engine is beside the point.” Ramirez said group members plan to wait until the military’s investigation is more complete before asking to see the MIR. “If it doesn’t jeopardize national security, then there’s no reason they shouldn’t let the report out,” Ramirez said. “This is the Marine Corps’ opportunity for those people that are not in favor of having them here to step up and be good neighbors. We’ll see if they do that or not.” For more information about the UC Jet Crash Committee, e-mail [email protected].