The investigators have no idea what a pilot was thinking in their final moments. I’ll grant that there may be rare exceptions but for most the instinct of self-preservation takes over.
How much stick time do you have by the way?
I had this conversation with a retired Air Force Colonel who flew fighters during the Korean and Vietnam War when discussing the Blue Angels crash a couple years back. Here’s what his thoughts were on the notion of last minute heroics proclaimed in the press.
“I’ve lost a couple of close friends who went in with their bird, later acclaimed by the press as Heros for staying with the airplane to guide it away from a school, residences, hospital, and other manmade objects. To which I say, “Not bloody likely!” One of those who went in with the bird was classmate 2/Lt Dick Borshel, about whom I have written here, and he stayed with the bird because he COULDN’T eject or bail out: Engine flamed out, canopy wouldn’t separate, ejection seat wouldn’t fire, and he couldn’t even roll the canopy back manually and crawl over the side. I don’t think Dick was trying to miss civilian housing because he was North of Sinuiju, in North Korean territory. Human Survival exceeds all other instincts.”
“Frankly, that (ejecting without undue concern for residential buildings) may NOT always be the case, and I am sure there have been those who rode it in, keeping the aircraft under control and steering away from ground structures. But even in this one, the FA-18 managed to wipe out one house and damage 7 others. Nobody knows where the aircraft will go once you part company, but parting company is the better part of valor in almost every situation. The idea - time permitting - is to aim it at the least populated area and then pull the trigger. 200’ (the altitude at which some say Davis’ FA-18 was flying) is a pretty low altitude for ejection and only scant seconds remain before aircraft and ground come together.
I’ve been on too many accident investigation boards to ignore detail and ultimate situations. I know of a couple of cases where we were absolutely certain the pilot had his head down in the cockpit, still fighting to get a restart and/or correct the problem when their bird impacted. Such impacts are usually very flat, so wreckage and fuel are sprayed forward over a very large area .... just as it was in the Davis accident. Unless he was fully stalled out, the F-18 probably had a ground speed close to 180-200 knots. If a belly landing is attempted it is SOP to put the gear down and let the landing gear take the brunt of the impact and shear off when airplane meets ground; Davis hadn’t done that, so I’m assuming he still expected to get the engines going and regain altitude. Davis also severed a fairly large tree, quite high up the trunk - before impact, leading me to think he might have been busy down among the switches and circuit breakers, not looking up and ahead to select an impact point. It would appear he didn’t see the tree coming up or make an attempt to miss it. Which brings up another point: while without power, he still had control of the aircraft; so, instead of riding it down to hit trees and vertical structures, why didn’t he pick one of those open fields (clearly shown in the overhead photos) and try to belly-in his FA-18? Could it be he thought he could still regain power? There are too many unanswered questions at this point to come up with definitive answers.
One of my instructors in Advanced Pilot Training, Capt. Alois G. Brown, was 3 years later promoted to Major and assigned to one of the first USAF F-104 squadrons. He was landing at Wright-Patterson AFB at night when the F-104 flamed out on final approach and headed for the ground. Al ruddered the nose away from the main base area and pulled the handles ... forgetting the ejection seats of the early versions of the 104 fired downward, not upward. He was still strapped to the ejection seat when it slammed into the ground, killing him instantly. The F-104 contined forward and wiped out two barracks buildings and the base PX. Al’s father, an ex-Air Corps Colonel, and my father served together in WW-I and both came back to work for Eastman Kodak Company. I suppose the point is, we tend to forget little details and concentrate on survival when it is time to react to extreme emergencies.
The media often dramatizes such accidents, depicting the pilot as a dying hero trying to save civilian lives by steering his staggering steed away from populated areas, but analysis of almost every one of those accidents shows the pilot fighting right down to the moment of impact to save the bird and himself/herself — especially if they somehow screwed up and might have to face an accident investigation board. The hero ploy is good PR for the military and makes for a much more dramatic and readable story; it helps the family believe their lost loved one died a hero, hastens closure, gives the airshow authorities a little wiggle room, and demonstrates the military is safety-conscious and has the audience in mind. We’ve all seen film clips of pilots ejecting at low altitudes during aerial demonstrations, the ‘chute opening split-seconds before they slam into the ground. Do you think they aimed their F-16 or Sukoi or Mig away from anything on the ground? Farnsborough, England remembers a flight demonstration aircraft coming apart and scattering itself into the audience, aimed directly at it. Not all situations are the same, not all accidents are the same. LCdr Davis was obviously headed somewhere, but we will probably never know where “somewhere” is. “
Truth be told, the only "stick time" I have in miltary planes is in an old T-34 prop-job and a couple C128s and C130s. (The T-34 WOULD glide reasonably well as long as its wings and tail were still attached ).
I DO fully understand that there are MAJOR differences with jets, and what I was doing was passing on things that I had heard in my (much) younger years from Naval aviators with whom I was aqainted (who are, of course, renowned for their ability to tell "stories" to impress the impressionable). As your anecdote shows, the REAL story is often not as glamorous.
I absolutely meant no disrespect to this particular aviator or to any other military pilots/aviators, as I hope you were able to glean from my subsequent comments.
Thank you also for being cordial and friendly in your discourse, unlike some new-comers around here.