MCAS Miramar is reporting a F-18 crash late Thursday night Aug 24, 2023.
Callsign has been rumored to have been Vulture 51 which makes it a VMFA-224 D model. The USMC confirmed the only pilot onboard, Maj Andrew "Simple Jack" Mettler, did not survive the crash. Blue skies and thank you for your service and sacrifice Maj. The F/A-18D was indeed from VMFA(AW)-224.
Some news here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO3TNxm36oE
https://news.usni.org/2023/08/25/marine ... us-unknown
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/ ... 728/?amp=1
https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-fa-18-hor ... iramar.amp