Thunderbird going down!

[Jaffa]

Was he punished for whhat happened, or can people make mistakes in the military also?

Hope he wasn't punished!

[N505AF]

nope hes back up an flying again

[Mr. Bones]

strange he's flying in the squad again. first of all it was 100% pilot error (his altimeter was set wrong as i've been told) so he blew up 20 million USD. perhaps this was his first year with the squad (normally they fly there two seasons)  ;)

[Scottler]

I think the fact that Captain Stricklin steered his aircraft away from 60,000 people and then still had the presence of mind to try until the last .8 of a second to regain control of the aircraft would probably overpower any poor light the Air Force may want to shed on him.

[N505AF]

No what was really kick @$$ about the whole thing was he got right up an waved at everyone after the crash an then he fell on his face.  the aircraft went down in front of where I was standing...  Almost all the screen savers on base right now are of him ejecting from his AC.  We felt bad for the pilots from our base the next day because the had a nice black whole in the ground to look at as they took off an landed..

[Scottler]

No what was really kick @$$ about the whole thing was he got right up an waved at everyone after the crash an then he fell on his face.

I don't necessarily know if I'd call the human body in shock and then violently responding to trauma "kick ass", but whatever...

[Jaffa]

Ejecting is no easy business and can cause very serious damage to the human body!  Has anyone ever heard about the pilot who punched out of his F-15 at over mach 1?  He almost, literally, lost a leg.  It was only still attached by a ligament(or maybe muscle).  Not to mention hard landings.

Glad to hear he is up and soaring again!

(in a new craft)

[Mr. Bones]

thatswhy figther pilots must have a strong back and neck.

[Scottler]

And ba77s of steel!

[Silver1SWA]

I saw the T-Birds perform in Salinas California about one month after the crash.

[C]

Generally the reason teams will perform with n aircraft missing is crew availability - ie if a team member is unfit to fly they'll fly a display based around what you can do without the missing aircraft. This happened to the Red Arrows a few years ago when one of the pilots slipped getting out of the aircraft and broke his ankle. Fortunately the team were able to re-jig the display with only eight aircraft.

thatswhy figther pilots must have a strong back and neck.

From what I was told at thr RAF Av. Med cantre a few years back, a pilot loses an inch due to his/her spine compressing during the ejection, and will only get half of that back. I also seem to remember hearing that they operate a system where a pilot can only eject 3 times before he is medically discharged...

Charlie

[Omag 2.0]

He's looking quite calm and collected in that shot too

Guess he had no choice beeing shot out of that plane, beeing strapped tightly to the seat. Not a lot of room to move ...  ;D

[Hagar]

I was reading in yesterday's Daily Mirror newpaper that this incident was due to pilot error & the pilot has been removed from flying duties. I'm not sure how true this is as I don't believe anything I read in the tabloids.

[C]

I was reading in yesterday's Daily Mirror newpaper that this incident was due to pilot error & the pilot has been removed from flying duties. I'm not sure how true this is as I don't believe anything I read in the tabloids.

Strange hows it's taken several months to get in the papers...

Anyway, it made it into the Express today. Apparently after bravely steering the aircraft away from the crowd (I seem to remeber from the video he was never really pointing at the crowd...) he "pressed the eject button" ! . Made me chuckle . Have to find myself one of those eject button thingies for all those awkward situations I get into...

Charlie

[Mr. Bones]

[quote]I saw the T-Birds perform in Salinas California about one month after the crash.