There's another perspective from which it pays to view this disastrous event. Just say, the PIC was the sole survivor of the crash?
Right about now, he'd be facing a court martial, and the articles of the UCMJ he'd be facing charges under, would likely be...
Article 92: Failure to obey regulations or orders...
Article 108: Loss or damage of Govt Property...
Article 111: Recklessness in the operation of an aircraft...
Article 119: Manslaughter (3 counts)...
The majority of these Articles provide substantial prison terms for any major violations of the relevant sections. A term of imprisonment in the military usually results in being busted to the lowest ranking enlistee.
More importantly, he'd have to face the bitterness and anger of the many family members of the people he killed with his negligence and arrogance.
Remember, these are the relevant facts.
The PIC never reached the instructed climbout speed. Because he chose a 40° angle of climbout, rather than meeting the required climbout speed... when he levelled off, he ended up 26kts below minimum climbout speed.
The target climbout speed was 133 kts. He only reached 107 kts.
He levelled off at 850' AGL, rather than the mandated 1500'. He conducted two particularly tight turns where the bank angle firstly reached 57°, and then 62°. The bank limit for the C-17 is 60°.
He had inadequate airspeed for the turns, and then increased the danger by continuing to apply aft control stick pressure, and full right rudder. The wing load increased to 2.4G's.
Just after commencement of stall, part-way around the second turn, the aircrafts deep stall protection system (the AoA Limiter System - ALS) commenced to operate, but was overcome by the aggressiveness of the PIC's control system inputs.
When the stall warning sounded, it continued to sound for 12 seconds, until impact.
The PIC did not initiate any proper stall recovery technique, until 2 seconds prior to impact, when he commenced to actuate a left roll. There was inadequate airspeed for the aircraft to respond to the left roll input satisfactorily.
Remember, this was a peacetime exercise. The PIC didn't have to exceed the aircrafts design limits, unlike a wartime operation. His responsibility was to the people under his command, the aircraft crew.
He showed no responsibility befitting an officer, in particular a senior and supposedly competent officer.
An event like this is just like throwing a rock in a pond. You only think of the initial big splash when the rock hits... but the ripples extend far and wide, and affect so much more, on a much wider scale, than you ever possibly imagined, initially...
