[hutrdvnj]

From the Wikipedia article:

> The radar intercept officer in the rear seat, Lt. Matthew Klemish, initiated ejection for himself and Hultgreen as soon as it was apparent the aircraft was becoming uncontrollable. First in the automated ejection sequence, Klemish survived. However, by the time Hultgreen's seat fired 0.4 seconds later, the plane had exceeded 90 degrees of roll, and she was ejected downward into the water, killing her instantly.

It seems that she was just 0.4 seconds too late, otherwise she could have survived like Klemish.

[chmod775]

> It seems that she was just 0.4 seconds too late, otherwise she could have survived like Klemish.

Well, the plane was. When either co-pilot or pilot ejects, the other is ejected as well shortly after (on pretty much all planes). The delay is likely there to make sure it goes smoothly.

[LorenPechtel]

Ejection motors are powerful. You don't want to eject into the fire of somebody else's rocket and since you have no guidance system a simultaneous ejection would just be asking for a collision. Thus a delay is necessary in a front/back situation. (You could build a system for side-by-side simultaneous ejection, design the seats to fly a little to the outside.)