May I start by sending my sincere condolences to the family and friends of the dead pilot, Gary Clark. Our thoughts are with you all.
No Surrender
You are a disgrace for uttering such insensitive sentiments.
A poor bloke dies and you whinge about a minor traffic jam you were not even involved in. If you are a pilot, you don’t deserve to be. A public apology is in order.
Lou Scannon
I think you have hit the nail on the head and have the right attitude; let’s all stand back and let other professionals find out what went so terribly wrong.
L-39’s egress system
Assuming the seat was the original L39/VS-1 BRI one, then according to the graphs I have seen (
http://www.l39.com/Ejection%20Seat%20Envelop.htm) the seat is NOT “zero-zero”.
I think there’s a telling paragraph that shows what could go wrong,
“One of the most common discrepancies John has noted during inspections, is the improper routing of the Canopy/Seat Unblock cable. In the example given, John stated that the seat would fire at the same time as the canopy. This would result in a pilot/canopy collision just above the aircraft with fatal results most likely. (This cable normally allows the canopy to clear the aircraft before the seat catapult fires)”.
I will close with head bowed for the poor pilot.
RIP
TG