Salute!
Thanks for the nice words, PJ.
All should know that the Viper was the first military jet I know of that had data recorders. Some were cosmic, like those in the commercial jets - about one outta 6 for our first few dozen jets. So we didn't have our video "gun cameras" in those. Bad, as we could not show our "home movies" at the debriefs with the folks we had just embarrassed, heh heh. OTOH, our video gun camera/radar display tapes provided valuable data for the accident boards and many jets and pilots were saved down the road. Amazing how the tapes came thru some brutal crashes, and one shows the end-of-flight right up until ground impact.
When I had the leading edge flap fold up on takeoff, I turned on the tape once I had reasonable control of the thing. My intent was to have good stuff for the accident board and other pilots whether I had to punch or not:
Our ejection seat had a solid state recorder of a few parameters, and we quickly learned we could not talk our way out of a screw up. Then there were all the boxes with their embedded recorders for maintenance and trouble-shooting.
With all the talk obout the debris field, I must remind folks that the plane was not built for more than 5 gees or so. Seems I have seen various reports estimate the impact gees over 100!!! So no mystery why the big pieces are so "small". I am amazed that the motors are almost side by side and a few other pieces resemble their "normal" positons.
My biggest fear is that the crew will be blamed for something they could not control. But that's the way it is, huh?