I would hope I wouldn't react in this manner!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/a-french-64-year-old-ejected-himself-from-a-fighter-jet-in-midair/ar-BB12zcvt?li=BBnbfcL

Guess his dream was not to fly in a fighter jet. Kind of an ironic ending.😎

 

Wimp..........

Oh, Grandpa, what have you done this time?!!!

Well, the guy was reportedly reluctant to fly, but the whole affair appears to be a monstrous $*&%-up by the airbase personnel...

From what I've read elsewhere, they did everything in a hurry and failed to prep and brief the passenger adequately. His pressure suit wasn't properly fitted, and he was given little assistance when settling himself in the rear seat. As a result, he wasn't strapped in tightly enough, and his helmet (incl. oxygen mask) wasn't properly secured, either.

In addition, the pilot hadn't received proper information on the guy's health issues (a doctor advised max. +3G, no negative Gs), so he proceeded with a normal training mission. Full afterburner takeoff, then acceleration above the runway. The trouble started when the pilot sharply pitched up 45 degrees, with acceleration ramping up to 4G. The pilot quickly realized the passenger was having trouble, so he started leveling off, causing negative Gs. The passenger was shocked by the rapid shift from being pushed into the seat to floating above it, and the loosely fastened harness failed to hold him down, so he panicked and grabbed the first "handle" he was able to hold on to...

He's really lucky to have escaped with minor injuries as he was totally unprepared for the ejection, and the blast tore off his (improperly secured) helmet.

So, not grandpa's fault, really... 😉 😄

 

Cheers,

Tym

Edited April 14, 20206 yr by tymk

A little more info reveals the whole affair was all rather slap-dash instead of involving a briefing and more importantly, proper checks on equipment:

Quote

Unfortunately, no one properly checked him as he clambered into the cockpit – meaning "his [helmet] visor was up, his anti-g pants were not worn properly, his helmet and oxygen mask were both unattached, and his seat straps were not tight enough."

[...]

Our pensioner, loose in his straps, not really wanting to be there and totally unused to being flung around like a rag doll, reached out to grab something and hang on for dear life. He picked the worst possible handhold: the trigger handle for the ejection seat. After the customary loud bang and whoosh he ceased to be part of the jet's payload, with the force of the ejection tearing his unsecured helmet and mask from his face.

Source: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/09/frenchman_ejected_fighter_jet_retirement_jolly/

As funny as it first appears, I feel really sorry for the guy.

Worse, AIUI, is that when one pulls the handle, both occupants of the Mirage Rafale are supposed to be ejected. So there was a flaw in the system there. At least there wasn't the write-off of an $80 million fighter...


On a lighter note, I discovered some HD quality footage of the French military in action with all occupants remaining on the correct side of the canopy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEp-ejKyXVw

 

Edited April 14, 20206 yr by F737NG
Meant to write Rafale, not Mirage

More top quality aviation reporting there: 'the ejector button'.

Sounds like comedy of errors; irresponsible decisions capped off with a really poor bit of aviating, rather than any real fault of the guy who banged out.

In the first place, it's not a good idea to force someone to do something they don't want; especially something such as this, where you would naturally feel obliged to go through with it after people had presumably paid a lot of money for it. I think it is safe to say most people on Avsim would love something such as a ride in a jet fighter, but it's wrong to assume everyone would love to do it.

Beyond this, in spite of the ride having been bought and paid for, the decision of whether to allow the guy to fly should have been based on observations of his willingness to do it and his physical ability to endure it comfortably. 

Then you've quite evidently got some pretty poor pre-flighting, briefing and execution of the flight. It's pure dumb luck that it didn't end up with at least one fatality and quite possibly many more.

Sounds like someone (possibly several people) is going to lose their job for it, and to be honest, rightly so.

Edited April 14, 20206 yr by Chock

1 hour ago, F737NG said:

 

I’m not sure how the ejection system is configured on the Mirage. In most 2-seat fighters, if the pilot has to eject, the back seater must eject first, otherwise he would be roasted by the flame of the pilot’s seat rocket as it passes over the back.  (The seats don’t travel straight up - the seat ejection rails are angled to the rear).

In other words, if the pilot initiates an ejection, the back seater will be automatically ejected first. However, if the back seater initiates his own ejection, the pilot is not necessarily ejected too.

Many years ago when I was in the USAF, I worked on F-4 Phantoms. In that aircraft, the back seater could eject alone. However, if he rotated a handle on his instrument panel panel prior to initiating his own ejection, it would automatically eject the pilot too, once the back seat was clear of the aircraft.

This system was used in case there was any question as to whether the pilot was physically capable of ejecting on his own (in case of injury sustained in a dog fight or missile strike in a combat scenario).

I did wonder about a command ejection lever or switch so that the Guy In Back goes first. I know that Tornados had one, but I don't have the knowledge of other two seat fighters - thanks Jim.

On the bright side, the poor ejectee had the ultimate ride of his life - I doubt he can go through anything more extreme and still live. Also, still on the bright side, shouldn't he be getting a tie from Martin Baker (Rafale uses Mk.16 seats according to t'interwebz) - they used to send out ties to successful ejectees using their seats...

1 hour ago, F737NG said:

I discovered some HD quality footage of Rafale in action with all occupants remaining on the correct side of the canopy:

Fixed it for you. Sorry, just had to as I've watched those Chillout films by the French Navy pilots - beautiful footage using a good looking plane.

According to the source I've read (it's in Polish only), the wire that was supposed to send the launch signal to the pilot's seat was incorrectly attached and got damaged as the rear seat was being ejected... The pilot was injured by pieces of the canopy, but made it to the runway.

19 minutes ago, JRBarrett said:

I’m not sure how the ejection system is configured on the Mirage. In most 2-seat fighters, if the pilot has to eject, the back seater must eject first, otherwise he would be roasted by the flame of the pilot’s seat rocket as it passes over the back.  (The seats don’t travel straight up - the seat ejection rails are angled to the rear).

In other words, if the pilot initiates an ejection, the back seater will be automatically ejected first. However, if the back seater initiates his own ejection, the pilot is not necessarily ejected too.

Correct.

Described here:

Quote

The fighter jet was set up to, under normal conditions, eject both the pilot and his passenger when one of them pulls on the ejection handle. The BEA-E explains the procedure of a Rafale double ejection in four stages: first, the back canopy is shattered by a line of explosives embedded into the glass, before the passenger seat is ejected. Then, the front canopy is also destroyed, and the pilot seat is the last to leave the fighter jet.

But in this case, the last stage failed and, despite his canopy being ejected, the pilot remained in his seat.
[...]

The technical investigation found that the explosion ruptured the casing of the sequence selector supposed to trigger the pilot ejection seat.

Source: https://www.aerotime.aero/clement.charpentreau/24788-fighter-jet-crash-averted-by-defect-in-civil-ejection-incident

Yet, the pilot wasn't to know that his seat wouldn't fire at any moment on his return to the airbase.
 

8 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

Fixed it for you. Sorry, just had to as I've watched those Chillout films by the French Navy pilots - beautiful footage using a good looking plane.

Rightly so! Completely different aesthetics, so no problem here!

13 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

Also, still on the bright side, shouldn't he be getting a tie from Martin Baker (Rafale uses Mk.16 seats according to t'interwebz) - they used to send out ties to successful ejectees using their seats...

I thought that it had to be an intentional ejection to qualify? 😄
 

 

Edited April 14, 20206 yr by F737NG

A good job that the pilot didn't get ejected too & saved the plane. Events could have been much worse. 

Back in the early 80s, we had a female Univ of Puerto Rico ROTC cadet getting an orientation flight in a T-37 at a USAF pilot training base.  As they taxiied out, they got a fire light on one of the engines.  Back in those days we were using highly volatile JP-4 jet fuel, and getting your pink butt out of the jet fast was a real thing if you wanted to live in an uncooked state to fly another day.  The IP told the señorita, whose English skills were clearly lacking, to egress the aircraft...which she promptly did by way of the ejection handles.  Fortunately that seat was powered by just a ballistic charge (a 40mm grenade canister) and not a rocket motor like the T-38 and the fighters of the day.  The seat was slowed down by the open canopy on the way out, and she landed on the tail boom, still in the seat, and broke her ankle.

 

This is one of those stories nobody can make up. Guardian angels working fine here. Thanks for sharing.