The House of Rapp: Thunderbird Crash
Thanks to the House of Rapp, you can see (probably for a limited time) an in cockpit video of the pilot performing the “Split-S” manuver, and ejecting from the aircraft.
Two things: this is a 4.1 MB file, so unless you have a broadband connection, don’t even try it. Learn a foreign language instead.
Second: we’re looking at the pilot throughout the manuver, and cannot appreciate the ground rushing up at us, so suddenly he punches out, and it’s not clear why.
What is clear is how quickly he made the decision to leave, and how suddenly he left thereafter. I’ll bet he didn’t even have time to inhale before the ejection. Amazing.
This isn’t an aircraft crash blog, but it’s interesting to me.
Update: even more fascinating crash footage here: AVWeb. via The Cellar
Here’s the video, in case The House of Rapp elects to stop hosting someday.
Wow. Scary. And how does this man reimburse our governmnet for this “pilot error”. Maybe they could make deductions from his paychecks.
Let’s see:
$21,000,000 ? # of paychecks for his lifetime . . .
Flippant comments aside, I suspect that Capt. Stricklin has flown his last high performance aircraft, and possibly ANY aircraft, of his USAF career.
The USAF, rightly or wrongly, has always been mostly unrelenting in relieving flight officers for ?pilot error? crashes and for a member of the T-Birds to make such a bone headed and basic error as not adjusting the altimeter, well.