( CNN ) -- A grandmother , mother and her child died when a military fighter jet crashed into a house in San Diego Monday , igniting a huge fireball , CNN 's San Diego affiliates and the San Diego Union Tribune are reporting . Fire rages in a San Diego neighborhood where an F/A-18 jet crashed Monday . Another child is missing , authorities said . A search ended Monday when night fell but will continue Tuesday morning , a spokesperson for the medical examiner said . The father is a businessman who was at work at the time of the crash , and was not reached for comment , according to the Tribune . The paper also reported that Monday night , a pastor and congregants at the family 's church , the Korean United Methodist Church of San Diego in Clairemont . The pastor told a television station that the mother was in the home with her two sons -- a 2 month-old and 1 year-old . The mother was a nurse at a hospital . The F/A-18D plane , which authorities described as disabled , was trying to land at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar . The jet had just performed landing training on a Navy aircraft carrier before the pilot reported having trouble , according to the Marine Corps . See map showing crash site , airfield » . `` It was , oh gosh , maybe a couple of hundred feet off the ground . And it was quiet -- I think the engine was off , '' said San Diego resident Ian Lerner , who was heading to lunch at a shopping center about a half-mile from the neighborhood of about 20 homes when he saw the jet flying low . iReport.com : See Lerner 's photos . `` Then all of a sudden we saw the canopy of the jet explode and go up , and then we saw the pilot blast out of the plane and the parachute open , '' Lerner said . Another witness said the jet was flying at a low altitude , and `` just spiraled , right out of [ the movie ] 'Top Gun . ' '' Watch witnesses describe the scene » . The house was destroyed . A photograph taken at the scene showed the pilot , who ejected safely , sitting on the front lawn , making a call on his cell phone . He was taken the hospital , the Marine Corps said in a written statement Monday . Watch burning debris near crash site » . The pilot , whose name was not released , was the only occupant of the two-seat aircraft , according to the Marine Corps . The Tribune spoke with Steve Diamond , a retired naval aviator , who found the pilot in a tree behind a house and helped the man who Diamond said was a lieutenant in his 20s , down from the tree . The pilot told him that after he lost power in the first engine , and that it was decided he would try to get the jet to Miramar on the single working engine , Diamond told the paper . The pilot was in communication with military air traffic controllers before the jet crashed , and the crash site is about two miles ( three kilometers ) from the airfield , the Federal Aviation Administration said . Burning debris scorched two additional homes and a slice of jet knifed another home . `` This could have wiped out half a dozen homes depending on how it landed , '' said Maurice Luque , a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department . See photos of fiery crash site » . Inside one of those houses , Robert Johnson sat in the living room with his daughter , Heather Certain , and her 2-year-old son , Nicholas , according to the San Diego Union Tribune . They heard the explosion then saw a giant fireball in their picture window facing their front yard , the Tribune reported . They ran out of the house . `` The house shook like an earthquake , '' Johnson said . `` I saw the flames right there in front of my house . '' iReporter Chris Morrow of San Diego said she went to the crash site Monday and saw `` Two houses that looked liked they 'd blown up . '' One resident interviewed by CNN affiliate KFMB said he saw a fighter jet at a very low altitude , and `` it just spiraled , right out of 'Top Gun . ' `` Watch aerial footage of crash site » . The Marine Corps said it is investigating what went wrong with the plane . The military has jurisdiction over the crash site . iReport.com : Smoke rises from fiery crash .
Officials : Three people in San Diego home killed in crash of F/A-18 . One believed to have been in home is missing , officials say . Marines : Pilot -- the jet 's only occupant -- ejected safely , was taken to hospital . Two homes destroyed in crash about 2 miles from airfield , officials say .