Civilian accidentally ejected from French fighter jet during fly-along

[Ooh-Rah]

Sacrebleu! Civilian accidentally ejected from French fighter jet during fly-along

The privileged experience of a fly-along in a French Air Force Rafale B fighter jet went terribly wrong last month for one civilian who was shockingly ejected from the jet during a takeoff from Saint Dizier Air Base in northeastern France.

The unidentified 64-year-old passenger, who “does not belong to the [French] Ministry of Armed Forces,” sustained back injuries but was listed in stable condition after being taken to the hospital, according to Aerotime News Hub.

 

[Devildoc]

Lol....

There was a scene from that classic documentary that came out in the late '70s (early 80s?), "1941", where the army was installing the anti-aircraft gun on the property of a homeowner, the guy was telling the homeowner about all the things to not touch. That scene comes to mind. See this red handle? Never touch it.

 

[Brill]

How does one accidentally pull the handle betwix’d ones legs? (Assuming a Martin-Baker Seat)

 

[Devildoc]

How does one accidentally pull the handle betwix’d ones legs? (Assuming a Martin-Baker Seat)

Hey, I pull a handle between my legs all the time. I can see how it happened.

 

[Brill]

Hey, I pull a handle between my legs all the time. I can see how it happened.

If more than 4-hours, consult a medical professional.

 

[DA SWO]

How does one accidentally pull the handle betwix’d ones legs? (Assuming a Martin-Baker Seat)

Side handles, this is actually old news.

Here's the accident report.

Report Released on French Rafale Passenger’s Accidental Ejection Reveals Both Human And Technical Failures

 

[Blizzard]

Side handles, this is actually old news.

Here's the accident report.

Report Released on French Rafale Passenger’s Accidental Ejection Reveals Both Human And Technical Failures

Holy shit! There is so much fail in that report. The guy is likely to.be alive, seriously.

 

[Brill]

Side handles, this is actually old news.

Here's the accident report.

Report Released on French Rafale Passenger’s Accidental Ejection Reveals Both Human And Technical Failures

Side handle should be to separate seat manually should the barometric release fail (think around 10,000 foot mark) but my training was in ‘95 back when ejecting was hard .

Either way, no thanks!

 

[AWP]

Thanks to @SpitfireV I finished a book about fighter pilots in Vietnam. One of them related, I think this was in an F-105, that you could rotate the handles to fire the ejection seat, pause, and it would blow the canopy. He actually did that without finishing the ejection sequence, stayed with the a/c, and recovered safely.

Either way, Goose is jealous.

 

[Blizzard]

Analysis/review on this incident from the perspective of a USAF/USN fighter pilot:

BTW, if you've never seen his channel and you're interested in aviation, check it out. He has some entertaining content.