A co-worker friend of mine just relayed a story to me....his step-father was a navy pilot that flew an A4. He told my friend (his step-son)about a time when he had a flame out and took his jet out over the Pacific and ejected. He was pissed that he had to swim:). But he said they were told specifically if over houses to either ride it into the ground or get it over the water and eject but under no circumstances were they to eject over houses where they would live and innocents would die.
I wonder if that’s still how they are supposed to think. I would hate to think i killed someone and walked away personally but at the same time riding a jet into the ground when there is no control left seems silly too. Does anybody know anything about this stuff?
Although an extremely noble gesture, like a captain going down with his ship, it’s usually not the pilot’s fault. And for the crew to ride the aircraft into the ground is a needless and useless exercise.
I’m not saying one human life is worth more than other, but in an accident scenario, should we be advocating the “sacrifice” of highly trained combat pilots?
Most pilots will stay with the plane long enough to insure it doesn’t land on people. However in many cases the pilots lose all ability to control the aircraft.
If they can’t control it why would they ride it in to their deaths?