Back in 2020, a young F-16 pilot perished when he attempted a last-second escape from a failed nighttime landing at Shaw Air Force Base.
First Lt. David Schmitz, 32, was killed instantly when he hit the ground after his ejection seat catapulted him 130 feet in the air but never deployed its parachute.
An official inquiry by the Air Force revealed the interior of Schmitz’s ejection seat to have extensive damage beyond its violent impact, resulting from poor workmanship. It appears technicians at the Air Force Research Laboratory believed components of the seat were counterfeit.
But the Air Force kept that information out of view of the public, buried in the classified section of its accident investigation report.
Details have only come to light through a lawsuit filed by Schmitz’s widow, Valerie, who is accusing three powerful defense contractors of negligence and deceiving the Air Force.
The Air Force Times reports:
“What the military does is inherently dangerous to begin with,” plaintiff attorney Jim Brauchle said Tuesday. “If you’re going to be engaging in that kind of activity, you want to be doing it with equipment that’s going to work.”
The case in U.S. District Court in South Carolina targets F-16 manufacturer Lockheed Martin; Collins Aerospace, which builds the ACES II ejection seat installed on planes across the Air Force; and multiple business units of Teledyne Technologies, which makes the seat’s digital recovery sequencer.
A sequencer is supposed to execute the steps of the ejection process when triggered in an emergency. Teledyne’s product is used in ejection seats on the F-15, F-16, F-22 and F-117 fighter jets, the A-10 attack plane, and B-1 and B-2 bombers around the world, according to its website.
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The public version of the Air Force’s official accident report, released in November 2020, blamed the mishap on how Schmitz mishandled his descent into Shaw, as well as his supervisor’s suggestion to try a tail hook landing instead of telling Schmitz to eject earlier.
However, Brauchle argues the official account doesn’t address the primary cause behind Schmitz’s death — the failure of his equipment.
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Similar stories were the subject of TV show JAG on H&I Weds
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Well, someone needs to answer for this. A total, in depth investigation of all companies involved should be done. They need to prove their equipment is safe, that they are bieng made and installed at the highest degree of safety possible. I worked for a defense contractor, our motto was” the military person’s life depends upon you to do your job properly, no short cuts”, one hundred percent accuracy should be paramount to manufacturing these types of equipment!
Yes someone does but the question is will they tell the truth. All these people in charege and in Washlngton in our Govt know is how to lie and lie some more. They don’t have any accountability or moral fiber. They are evil and there are many who don’t seem to understand this in our society.
This government has caused a lot more deaths to our service men than you will ever know. Do you think they will tell you the truth or open their secrets for you to see? No, they never will, and they will lie to your face will they come to tell you how sorry they are for this accident.
Patsy you are so right on the money with your thinking and comment. They lie everyday to our face good ex ample is the current Press Sec. Karin Pierre. SHe isn’t even a good liar. Joe isn;t a good Liar even. Everyone knpws he lies. This mishap with his military situation is awful. This young pilot was blamed for something that was totally out of his control and then they had the audacity to lie and try to blame him. That is unforgivable. I a I am a big advocate of the MILITARY and soldiers in all branches. I grew up and was raised in a career military family. THere are no better people than those who serve. NO ONE WILL GIVE THEIR LIFE FOR YOU EXCEPT A SOLDIER AND JESUS CHRIST. Always remember that. IT IS DO TRUE. Look at those in battle and what they do for others.