Lithium test
Salute!
Yeah, I'll be very careful. I still remember my high school teacher dropping a tiny amount of phosphorus or whatever into a jar of water and seeing the reaction. Years later I dropped munitions using the same metal to set off the napalm. No ignitor required, the stuff caused an immediate fire and poof!
I still stick to my story that the charging/monitoring systems need to be examined.
Nothing wrong with the NI-Mh batteries, and they are less susceptible to thermal runaway and such. No need to go back to "car batteries".
As a systems engineer and un-employed fighter pilot, I fully appreciate the advances in many systems. I am not a dinosaur.
The shuttle and Viper hydrazine systems were developed about the same time. Unlike the shuttle, ours had only a few pounds of the nasty stuff. Nevertheless, we had a great emergency system that worked regardless of altitude/air density and speed. Only had about 5 minutes or so to do something, but better than an immediate ejection.