What was not expected was the immediate entry by the Lightning into a spin the other way. I called height warnings for the pilot, 10,000 ft being the minimum for a spinning ejection.
I can remember sitting at Staxton Wold on a Friday controlling a pair of F6 doing ACT, one of which was flown by "Porky" Pxxx.
All was quiet until a voice said: "OK Porky, recover it", followed about 10 seconds later by "Porky Eject, Eject, Eject".
About another 10 seconds later Porky replied, "I've got it. Staxton, XX RTB".
In the subsequent debrief it transpired they'd been doing a vertical scissors about around 10K when Porky went into a spin. The No 2 called the eject as soon as he saw the spin and the height - but Porky stayed with it and recovered it. On the day he said he pulled out at about 300ft, it went up with each retelling.
The 10K limit was, it would seem, based on an aircraft in a fully developed spin with an established high rate of descent.
Why did he stay with it? You tell me what goes through a fighter pilot's head in those circumstances.