Celebration just got announced with Chicago to host next year... I'm really excited, but I can't afford to buy tickets when they go on sale.
Watching season 2 of Andor and damn the Empire are idiots, they hire a test pilot but don't make sure the test pilot knows how to fly? Guess you don't need qualifications in Star Wars lol
I think the implication here is that the prototype itself has quite a few things different from a typical TIE. This is evident in terms of having a HUD that appears on the window rather than requiring the helmet, a much more spacious cockpit than normal TIEs, additional weapons complement, and a hyperdrive, which is something most TIEs do not have due to cost. Not to mention his first official day of training and piloting was to happen the day after, probably even starting on simulators if they decided to port that tech over from Legends. Delving into extended lore there's enough different about the TIE Avenger that the Empire eventually decided it was too expensive to produce en masse.