PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Dayton Ohio Airshow USAF Thunderbird Mishap
Old 23rd Jun 2017, 21:54
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Airbubba
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Rockytop, Tennessee, USA
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Good news from Thunderbird 1's press conference, both pilot and backseater are in good condition.

Pilot is Captain Erik 'Speedy' Gonsalves, he was giving a fam flight to aircraft maintainer Tech Sergeant Kenneth Cordova. Both were conscious and talking during the lengthy extrication. Since they were sitting upside down on hot ejection seats, I'm glad that the effort was not unduly hurried by circumstances.

As usual, some of the questions in an earlier media briefing given by airshow and airport officials were perhaps not well phrased. When asked if the aircraft occupants were pilots, one of the briefers said that we know that at least one was. When asked if the crew attempted to eject after the plane rolled inverted on the ground it was intimated that the ejection vector might not have been favorable in that situation so the answer was probably no.

During the 5 pm media conference Lead Thunderbird Lieutenant Colonel Jason Heard received word that the T-birds would NOT fly in the show on Saturday. Participation in Sunday's Dayton show would be decided later. He seemed pleased and not surprised by the decision as he looked at his phone on the podium. I sense that his input to the decision was in line with the result in this case.
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