Pinned by blancolirio
johnpolitis
17 hours ago (edited)
I have over 3000 hours on the tutor and was a member of the 81 and 82 Snowbird teams. The ejection seat is, as you explained, a 0-60 seat; but in the early 80’s we learned that this did not factor for any downward vector. Pilots were then advised to try and not initiate an ejection below 2000 AGL unless it was the last resort. Watching the video I see that the pilots initial actions were exactly as I remembered: Zoom, Idle, Airstart. Sadly, it appears that the ejection sequence began after the aircraft was descending. Prayers for the pilot that did not survive....heart breaking.
That addresses the ejection, but nothing about what caused the aircraft to veer upwards and to the left then down into the ground.....
But that's what after accident investigations are for.........