I love how there are pilots on here who never went through VT-86 or flew the T-39 with one of the contracters. Yes, for the most part they are awesome and a valuable resource...but some of them are old. L-3 only requires that they get an FAA physical which is basically a joke. They have no annual physical, no flight doc...they are required to self-report according to Federal Aviation Regulations (61.45 and 63.19). These regulations place the responsibility for determining physical fitness upon the pilot. They state that no person may act as a pilot when he has a known physical deficiency which would make him unable to meet the physical requirements for his medical certificate.
Now, I'm not going to disclose what may still be confidential or privileged info. But I will say that if you read between the lines from the above, you'll believe me when I say that this case has more than one leg to stand on.
The pilots on those low levels were supposed to be eyes out all the time while the stud worked the chart, radar, etc under the tutelage of the instructor who was almost always heads down unfucking the stud. Unfortunately, some of the pilots like to go heads down as well and it was a huge point of contention at VT-86 when I was there. So were they an active crew? Yes, but sometimes the pilots got too complacent.
One final thing, you're talking about the families of fellow officers. Not some off the street trash. Tammy Manse was 7 months pregnant when Catdog died. Takes a real man to tell her she wants a fucking lottery winning.
Sorry if I'm harsh, but attacking the families when you have no idea what happened is unprofessional.
