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#4516009 - 04/12/20 04:28 PM Pensioner flung from fighter jet at 2,500ft after grabbing ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’.  
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From the British Daily Telegraph:

Pensioner flung from fighter jet at 2,500ft after grabbing ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’.
The French airforce has been told to review procedures that put a 64-year old civilian with no wish to be there in a Rafale-B jet
ByPeter Allen PARIS12 April 2020 • 4:22pm
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Colleagues arranged a flight on a Dassault Aviation Rafale jet as a retirement present.
A pensioner who was given a surprise flight in a £70million fighter jet as a retirement present was flung out at 2500ft after grabbing the ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’.
The drama is outlined in a newly released report by French aviation investigators which at times reads like a dark comedy script, as it describes how the unidentified 64-year-old panicked during his first flight in the Rafale-B.
Then he shot out at high speed, losing his helmet that had not been fastened round his chin properly, before landing in a field close to the German border.
His anti-g force suit, worn by aviators who are subject to high acceleration forces and designed to prevent a blackout, had also become loose.
It was only through good fortune that the pilot was not ejected by his passenger’s actions, so ensuring a certain crash.
The pensioner had ‘never expressed a desire to take part in a flight like this, and especially not in a Rafale,’ reads the report by the Paris-based BEA (Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis).
Despite this, his colleagues at the defence contractor where he had worked, set up the flight at the Saint-Dizier airforce base, in north-west France.
‘The need to keep the surprise until the moment of the flight,’ had hugely risky consequences, especially as regards ‘preparation for the flight,’ reads the report.
It continues: ‘This situation generated a feeling of stress for the passenger, and this was particularly felt during the ejection seat briefing where he had to assimilate a large amount of information in a very short time.
‘The passenger said he had a complete lack of knowledge of the aeronautical environment and its constraints, having never flown on a military aircraft.’
The 35-year-old captain on the flight, which took off on a sunny afternoon on March 20 last year, had 2000 flying hours behind him.
This included 905 in a Rafale, but he was used to having a military comrade in the back seat of the two-seater jet.
Four of the pensioner’s colleagues had turned up with a professional photographer, and they placed a Go-Pro camera on their friend’s helmet.
‘Faced with a fait accompli on the day of the flight, it was very difficult for him to refuse to participate in the flight,’ says the report.
The flight had also been authorised by the French Air Force staff at the request of the Defence Ministry, which also piled pressure on the pensioner who was ‘considered a VIP’.
Analysis of radio recordings show that ‘the pilot was in control of the situation. Once informed that his passenger had ejected, the pilot realises that he should have been ejected too.
‘He then demonstrated a certain calm to pilot following the loss of the rear seat and the canopy.’
The pensioner, meanwhile, had expected a gentle ascent, but the plane ‘climbed at 47 degrees’, compared to around 10 to 15 degrees for a standard passenger plane.
This was when the Frenchman reached out to hang on to anything to steady himself and pulled the ejector handle.
There was a loud bang, with the force of the ejection tearing his unsecured mask and oxygen mask away.
The Rafele-B’s command ejection system is meant to fire both seats at once – meaning the pilot feared his seat would fly out at any moment.
Instead he managed to land, while the pensioner’s parachute worked, and he arrived in a field, shocked and with minor injuries.
The report calls on the Airforce and Defence Ministry to review its procedures for allowing civilians on military flights.


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#4516021 - 04/12/20 05:10 PM Re: Pensioner flung from fighter jet at 2,500ft after grabbing ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’. [Re: RedToo]  
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Embarrassing.

Thank heavens the pilot wasn't ejected, too.

#4516024 - 04/12/20 05:17 PM Re: Pensioner flung from fighter jet at 2,500ft after grabbing ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’. [Re: RedToo]  
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If it can happen in a F-14 with a Captain bailing out on his pilot, then I'm sure it could happen with a civilian too smile


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#4516026 - 04/12/20 05:29 PM Re: Pensioner flung from fighter jet at 2,500ft after grabbing ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’. [Re: RedToo]  
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Crazy.

A few friends of mine did Journalist/Photographer rides on fast movers, I only did helicopter skid/open door photography.

All of us were toroughly briefed, sometimes a full day in advance, on various technical, operational and safety aspects of the aircraft.

Simple amazed that they would stick a newbie in a Rafale with nary an introduction.

#4516035 - 04/12/20 06:09 PM Re: Pensioner flung from fighter jet at 2,500ft after grabbing ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’. [Re: RedToo]  
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Oh BEEP!


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#4516042 - 04/12/20 06:25 PM Re: Pensioner flung from fighter jet at 2,500ft after grabbing ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’. [Re: RedToo]  
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He had been briefed, on the same day, in the morning. He then had lunch and flew.

He got the usual brief, when he should have had a much more specific one in consideration of how nervous he was.

The post accident investigation has been very thorough, and the (public) results being so widely spread, hopefully this won't happen again any time soon.

But it will most certainly happen again, because people forget after some time.

There was an even more dramatic accident with a mirage in 1990, passenger (junior officer) ejected on ground with the canopy raised, half his head remaining in the separated helmet.

#4516126 - 04/13/20 02:30 AM Re: Pensioner flung from fighter jet at 2,500ft after grabbing ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’. [Re: RedToo]  
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We probably won't get to view that GoPro footage, will we?


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#4516135 - 04/13/20 05:25 AM Re: Pensioner flung from fighter jet at 2,500ft after grabbing ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’. [Re: RedToo]  
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So when you pull on the seat ejection lever in a 2 seater, both seats should eject? Is that standard? The beginning of that Bond film where 007 was able to eject the rear passenger and not himself, that's movie prop for dramatic value?


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#4516158 - 04/13/20 01:38 PM Re: Pensioner flung from fighter jet at 2,500ft after grabbing ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’. [Re: RedToo]  
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If the seat arm/desarm switch is easily accessible, everything is possible.

#4516159 - 04/13/20 01:44 PM Re: Pensioner flung from fighter jet at 2,500ft after grabbing ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’. [Re: rollnloop.]  
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Originally Posted by rollnloop.
If the seat arm/desarm switch is easily accessible, everything is possible.



Yup. I learned that general lesson by working in IT for over 20 years. There is no such thing as 100% "idiot proofing".


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4516169 - 04/13/20 03:01 PM Re: Pensioner flung from fighter jet at 2,500ft after grabbing ejector seat handle to ‘steady himself’. [Re: RedToo]  
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