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A decision to eject from a failing F-35B fighter and the betrayal in its wake

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247 points po | 2 comments | 31 Mar 25 04:25 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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spoonjim ◴[31 Mar 25 05:50 UTC] No.43531541[source]▶
It's not a bad practice to automatically dismiss any pilot who ejects from a plane (other than test pilots) except in cases which are wholly obvious equipment failures. It will ensure that for these planes which cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the pilot doesn't eject unless, yes, they really fucking need to eject.

Will this mean you accidentally fire some great pilots? Yes. But given the cost of these airplanes it is better to spend some more money on training a few more pilots.

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computerex ◴[31 Mar 25 06:42 UTC] No.43531887[source]▶
In other words to you human lives are worth less than F-35s.
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1. blatantly ◴[31 Mar 25 06:55 UTC] No.43531979[source]▶
Yes. There is a finite $ value on a human life from a government point of view.

For your loved ones it is infinite.

But for a government with X funds and Y lives to save, there has to be a price.

If someone ejects on every little problem, you spend billions more on that and billions less on some other life saving initiatives.

Putting aside the bad ejection survival stats.

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2. graemep ◴[31 Mar 25 09:28 UTC] No.43532933[source]▶
Yes, governments will assign a value to human lives for making decisions.