Yes, it was a mistake and he did well to escape. He rolled and pulled-
through around 800ft lower than he should have. His "gate" altitude
was wrong in his calculations.
But there are 2 points to note: the Thunderbirds used sea level (QNH)
as their altimeter setting rather than the airfield elevation (QFE) --
they still do as far as I am aware; and there is someone checking
their figures. So 2 highly qualified people miscalculated the gate
altitude for a critical manoeuvre.
And I reckon the chap knew, in his heart of hearts, as he rolled that
the airfield was a little closer than it should have been. He was
very skilful in his organisation of his ejection at the critical
moment. The F16 is such a wonderful aircraft that the pilot often
feels invincible and it *might* be that he initially thought that he
could get away with it.
Chris
On 21 Dec 2008, at 23:44, Jerry Smith wrote:
> John, No, not incompetent, just made an error. He failed to set
> his altimeter to field elevation for his minimums. He had quite a
> lot of hours, but was no longer on the Thunderbirds afterward.
> Jerry
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