Quote:
Originally Posted by KNS
The T Bird crash was interesting, the plane was mostly intact and am wondering if it would have been survivable had he stayed with the aircraft (I'm sure it hit hard in any case). I'm guessing not controllable from the cockpit.
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I think he flew it toward a safer area for it to crash, ejected, and it came to rest largely intact. I am a product of USAF flight training and the #1 killer in ejection seat aircraft is delayed decision to eject. Thunderbirds (and Blue Angels) pilots are highly trained and he must have had time (a luxury) to fly the jet as the engine failure developed to the point he knew he had to get out. Often, the media lauds a dead pilot for "steering the aircraft away from houses" (etc.) but the reality is that the pilot is trying to fly the jet past the point where an ejection is called for.