Man accidentally ejects himself from French jet

[REWahoo]

And you thought you were having a bad day...

A surprise outing in a fighter jet unnerved one defence company executive so much he accidentally ejected himself while flying at over 500km/h (320mph), an investigation into the debacle in France has found.

The 64-year-old civilian got the most unwelcome ride of his life after the force of the take-off made him “float” off his seat, causing him to stand up and involuntarily grab the ejection handle to steady himself.

Sounds like he ignored the second step of the pre-flight briefing: "Sit down, strap in and shut up."

His parachute deployed and he had a relatively soft landing in a nearby field, avoiding serious injury, before being taken to hospital.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...mself-from-fighter-jet-during-surprise-flight

 

[Sunset]

I read that yesterday, it was SO FUNNY...

 

[Walt34]

I read that yesterday, it was SO FUNNY...

+1

I've never had the opportunity to fly in a fighter jet but I'm pretty sure I'd pay real close attention to instructions on how NOT to eject myself....

 

[braumeister]

I read that yesterday, it was SO FUNNY...

Trust me, there is nothing funny about it. I saw someone killed when they accidentally ejected from a small jet fighter (trainer). It's a perilous event under any circumstances.

 

[Aerides]

It's kind of a sad story actually. He didn't even want to go.

He was a civilian, got the gift of the flight from coworkers despite having never expressed the desire for such a thing, and felt he couldn't say no. He also shouldn't have been medically cleared for the flight - his heart was racing like my jogging pace before take off. He wasn't properly strapped in, and shouldn't have floated to begin with.

Thank goodness his chute activated.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Sounds like the poor guy is lucky to be alive—plenty of blame for the crew too, per a USA Today article:

French military health regulations advise that passengers aboard a fighter jet must undergo a medical assessment 10 days before the flight. Given the surprise element of the man's flight, the military ignored the recommendation and performed his medical visit just a few hours before takeoff.

 

[Dawg52]

I wonder what the guy was thinking on the way down? I bet he was terrified if still conscious.

 

[MichaelB]

I wonder what the guy was thinking on the way down? I bet he was terrified if still conscious.

My guess is he was wondering if and where he could quickly and discretely get a change of clothes.

 

[LOL!]

I was present when a civilian spouse won a raffle to fly in a B-58 Hustler just before the planes were mothballed. They led her away screaming, so I'm not sure if she ever got off the ground or if it was just a joke. I got to sit in the same plane, but I was only about 12 years old at the time.

 

[pb4uski]

Talk about an "Oh, ****!" moment... at the moment that he realized that he accidentally triggered the ejection.

 

[candrew]

I wonder what the guy was thinking on the way down? I bet he was terrified if still conscious.

My guess is he was wondering if and where he could quickly and discretely get a change of clothes.

I was wondering at what stage did the poor guy sh*t himself?

A buddy of mine, upon his 20th anniversary in the USAF, was given a Top Gun ride in a fighter jet. He said that both his bladder and bowels completely evacuated during the flight!

 

[Sunset]

Trust me, there is nothing funny about it. I saw someone killed when they accidentally ejected from a small jet fighter (trainer). It's a perilous event under any circumstances.

Of course it could have been a horror story, but if you read the story it is presented in a very funny manner, and the fellow didn't die although that seemed like it was going to happen.

 

[OldShooter]

Trust me, there is nothing funny about it. I saw someone killed when they accidentally ejected from a small jet fighter (trainer). It's a perilous event under any circumstances.

Yes, that guy was really lucky. Those ejection seats are dangerous things. I saw a seriously bloodied F-16 taped off as an accident site in the hangar after a mechanic took his head off by accidentally activating the seat. Serious back injuries to the occupants are a worry, too, because of the amount of energy necessary to get the seat out of the way before the tail arrives and to get as much altitude as possible for 'chute deployment.

Sloppy crew and PIC work, too, if the guy's helmet wasn't properly fastened and he wasn't made appropriately terrified of the ejection seat handles.

 

[DAYDREAMER]

Goose died while ejecting! Dangerous

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Was he from Florida?

 

[6miths]

And you thought you were having a bad day...

Sounds like he ignored the second step of the pre-flight briefing: "Sit down, strap in and shut up."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...mself-from-fighter-jet-during-surprise-flight

This could have been a real tragedy. If one reads the article it states, 'A malfunction prevented the pilot from being automatically ejected too and he was able to land the plane on the runway despite the involuntary departure of his passenger and the loss of the cockpit canopy.' And if one looks at the runway and the flight path, it passes along a major motorway and then two towns just east of the runway. A fully fueled unpiloted jet can do quite a bit of damage. Kudos to the pilot who was the beneficiary of the 'malfunction'.

 

[Rianne]

James Bond NOT. I laughed at the title, did not read the article.

 

[f35phixer]

This could have been a real tragedy. If one reads the article it states, 'A malfunction prevented the pilot from being automatically ejected too and he was able to land the plane on the runway despite the involuntary departure of his passenger and the loss of the cockpit canopy.' And if one looks at the runway and the flight path, it passes along a major motorway and then two towns just east of the runway. A fully fueled unpiloted jet can do quite a bit of damage. Kudos to the pilot who was the beneficiary of the 'malfunction'.

Doubt there was a malfunction, Pretty sure from what i can remember of F-18 cockpits, Pilot is always in charge i.e. he would always be in charge of a two person eject, IF the guy in back wanted to eject he could, BYE BYE !!!
Once early in F-18 flight test, a guy set off ejection seat in hanger !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pb4uski]

... Once early in F-18 flight test, a guy set off ejection seat in hanger !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That had to hurt.

 

[Chuckanut]

Somewhere a movie producer is figuring a way to get this into their next movie.

 

[mh]

I’d never fly In one of those things. Even if I was ‘gifted” the ride.

 

[6miths]

This could have been a real tragedy. If one reads the article it states, 'A malfunction prevented the pilot from being automatically ejected too and he was able to land the plane on the runway despite the involuntary departure of his passenger and the loss of the cockpit canopy.' And if one looks at the runway and the flight path, it passes along a major motorway and then two towns just east of the runway. A fully fueled unpiloted jet can do quite a bit of damage. Kudos to the pilot who was the beneficiary of the 'malfunction'.

Doubt there was a malfunction, Pretty sure from what i can remember of F-18 cockpits, Pilot is always in charge i.e. he would always be in charge of a two person eject, IF the guy in back wanted to eject he could, BYE BYE !!!
Once early in F-18 flight test, a guy set off ejection seat in hanger !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was a French-built Dassault Rafale and it's ejector system is meant to eject both seats if either is activated. As per various news reports, 'The Rafale-B's command ejection system is meant to fire both seats if one of the crew pulls the handle. A very confused pilot, however, was still sitting in his newly canopy-free Rafale wondering what the hell had just happened. He returned to land, conscious all the time that the seat could fire at any moment without warning. Luckily, it didn't go off.'

The BEA-E investigators' report also confirms that both seats are meant to eject sequentially after either the pilot or the bombadier/navigator/RSO pulls an ejection handle. Each canopy blows then the back seat followed finally by the pilot's seat. In this case, the 4th step did not occur. Fortuitously.

 

[pb4uski]

So French quality control was a virtue for a change.

 

[Rustic23]

In 1972 one of my fellow OV-10 drivers was taking a combat photographer up in the rear seat. In the OV, there are two ejection safety pins. One at the top of the seat and the other at the base of the seat with a red 'remove before flight' conecting the two. Prior to leaving the parking area, you pull the two pins and show them to the crew chief. The guy in the back had the streamer between the two wrapped around the ejection handle. When he held the the two pins up to show the crew chief, he ejected himself out of the A/C. Lots of smoke and noise. Quote the pilot WTF! The pilot got out, got into the spare aircraft and flew the mission. The photographer proved the OV had a 0/0 ejection system and was uninjured. (0 altitude, 0 airspeed)

added: The OV's system, if the pilot eject, both go, the back seater does not eject the front seater. Also, most fatalities from ejections are the crew waiting to long to pull the triggers. Something every pilot I know says they would never do, yet they still do. Lots of training this.