Illustrative photoAn investigation by the US Air Force into a fatal accident that occurred in 2022 unexpectedly revealed that the cause of the death of the F-16 fighter pilot David Schmitz in the United States could be counterfeit ejection seat parts. Its key elements could well be fake.
Rachel Cohen, a reporter for the American newspaper Air Force Times, writes about this.
An official investigation by the US Air Force, conducted a few months after the accident, showed that the electronic components inside the seat had signs of poor workmanship. This caused concern in the Air Force Research Laboratory, which demanded a more thorough study of whether the components were fake.
Image source: topwar.ru
The result of the additional study turned out to be in the closed, non-public part of the accident investigation report.
These details surfaced during the filing of a federal civil lawsuit by Valerie Schmitz, the widow of the pilot. She sued three defense companies, accusing them of negligence and misleading the US Air Force about the safety of their products.
As previously reported by Military Review, an F-16 fighter jet crashed at Shaw Airbase in June 2020. When trying to eject, the pilot died because his seat failed. It was one of the most unsuccessful periods for American military aviation, as shortly before that, in a short time, it lost several aircraft at once. Within a few days, the US Armed Forces lost two F-22 and F-35 fighters, and soon lost another F-15.
