“Kara Hultgreen died just months after she was certified for combat, when her F-14 Tomcat crashed into the sea on final approach to USS Abraham Lincoln, October 25, 1994.”
That might be the stuff that happens when you certify a pilot based on political agenda instead of skill.
A pity Patsy Schroeder wasn’t riding in the 2nd seat. I wonder who was when Hultgreen flew her plane into the Pacific.
...the backseater - not sure what the Navy calls them - punched out a millisecond before Kara did and survived the ejection; Kara was ejected straight into the water and apparently died insantly...Kara’s call sign was Revlon, if I recall...there are several articles about this sad story on the ‘net... .from what you can glean from these articles, one gets the impression that she was a substandard pilot who should never have gotten through Navy flight school...
WSO in backseat (Lieutenant Matthew Klemish) ejected and survived, backseat most always goes first because you don’t want the frontseater’s ejection seat rockets frying the back-seater.