WASHINGTON (AP) — An Air Force instructor pilot died when the ejection seat activated while the jet was still on the ground at a Texas military base, the Air Force said Tuesday.
The instructor pilot was in a T-6A Texan II at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, when the seat activated during ground operations on Monday. The Air Force said the pilot was taken to hospital and died on Tuesday. The pilot’s name is being kept secret until family members are informed.
The T-6A Texan II is a single-engine two-seat aircraft that serves as the primary trainer for Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps pilots. In a training flight, an instructor may sit in the front or rear seat; Both have lightweight Martin-Baker ejection seats that are activated by a handle on the seat.
In 2022, the T-6 fleet and hundreds of other Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps jets were grounded after inspection revealed a potential defect with a component of the ejection seat’s cartridge activated devices, or CAD. The fleet was inspected and in some cases, the CAD was replaced.
When activated the cartridge explodes and begins the ejection sequence.
Ejection seats have been credited with saving pilots’ lives, but they have also failed at critical moments in plane crashes. Investigators identified ejection seat failure as a partial cause of the F-16 crash that killed 1st Lt. David Schmitz, 32, in June 2020.
In 2018, four members of a B-1 bomber crew earned the Distinguished Flying Cross when, after their plane caught fire, they discovered that one of the four ejection seats was indicating failure. Instead of bailing out, all crew members decided to stay in the burning plane and land it so they all had the best chance of survival. All crew members survived.
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