In the linked story, the Marine pilot who crashed his F/A 18 into a California house in December "screamed in terror" when he saw where his jet crashed. The owner of the home said, "I don't blame the pilot."
I do.
What moron bails out of an aircraft that's going to crash into a residential neighborhood? He saved himself, though, and that's what's important. The people on the ground? Too bad for them.
I don't blame him for any decisions he made up until he bailed out. I'm not going to second guess a highly trained pilot in those regards.
But he had control over where that aircraft was going to crash. If he was having problems, he should have first gotten the aircraft somewhere "safe". And if he couldn't, he should have ridden it down to make sure it didn't crash into someone's house.
Sorry, Lt. Neubauer, but you committed 4 counts of manslaughter.
That's rather presumptious of you to say. If you were in the position, would you have bailed? You are similar to the people who scream about what they would do in life/death situations, how they would behave in an honorable and heroic manner. You are armchair quarterbacking.
Therefore, I would suggest that you put yourself in that same position that the pilot was in. Until then, keep drawing your expertise from Top Gun and Turn and Burn or Flight Simulator 3000.
