The distraught father of two baby girls who were killed when a US military jet crashed into their San Diego home has said he does not blame the pilot.

As US authorities confirmed that the body of 15-month-old Grace Yoon had been found in the ruins of the house, taking the toll of the crash to four, her father Yoon Dong-Yun said he forgave the pilot, whose jet crash had killed three generations of his family.

Mr Yoon, whose wife, mother-in-law and two baby daughters were all killed in the accident, described the pilot as a "treasure for the country."

Speaking near the charred remains fo the family home, Mr Yoon said of the pilot, who ejected safely after his F18's engines failed as he attempted to land at the nearby marine base, "I don't want him to suffer from this accident."

He added of the pilot's desperate attempts to steer his stricken jet away from the densely populated suburb of University City, "I don't blame him, I don't have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could."

Mr Yoon, who was at work at the time of the accident, said he had met his wife four years ago. "She's just such a lovely wife and mother who always loves me and (our) babies. I miss her so much."

Church officials from the Korean United Methodist Church identified Mr Yoon's wife as Yoon Young-Mi, a 36 year old nurse.

Mrs Yoon's mother, Suk Kim, who was also killed in the crash, had recently arrived in the US from South Korea to help look after her grandchildren Grace and two-month-old Rachel.

Lieutenant Katheryn Putnam, a spokeswoman for the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, said the plane had taken off from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Pacific as part of a training exercise.

It suffered engine problems as it approached Miramar, made famous as the spot where much of the movie Top Gun was filmed.

Jason Widmer, a contractor working near the site of the crash, said the pilot had reported a power failure on board the F18.

"The first thing he said to me, even before he said, 'I'm OK,' he said, 'I hope I didn't kill anybody.' He said he was powerless," Widmer said. "He said he stayed with the bird as long as he could."

Military officials blamed the crash on an equipment malfunction.

"We don't know exactly what was the cause of the problem he was having, and ... we will be conducting a thorough safety investigation to find that out," Marine Corps Colonel Chris O'Connor told reporters.

The US Navy recently inspected hundreds of F18 Hornets built by Boeing after discovering fatigue cracks on more than a dozen aircraft, and announced last month that it had grounded 10 of the $57 million jets and placed flight restrictions on 20 more until repairs could be made.

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