Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/04/13/fighter-jet-passenger-64-acc.html
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Makes it one to remember. Not a lot of ride-alongs have had the opportunity to eject from a fighter jet.
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French pensioner ejected from fighter jet after accidentally grabbing bang seat* handle
Arguably not the guy’s fault.
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In fairness, I think a lot have had the opportunity, but were prudent or fortunate enough not to avail themselves of it.
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Older types of ejection seat could damage occupant’s spine when used due to high acceleration. I wonder if some problems will appear later in this case.
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Nor many actual fighter pilots, for that matter.
Unfortunately, since the aircraft was not disabled, the passenger does not meet the strict requirements for membership in the Caterpillar Club.
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I hate heights and roller coasters, but so do want to go in a jet for a ride. Used to be huge into fighter planes as kid. F-15 E please.
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Insert [Well, that escalated quickly.] meme.
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I thought we were supposed to avoid unnecessary air travel during the pandemic.
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Luckily, the pandemic hasn’t been with us since March 2019. 
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This is totally me. Except that I probably would have pissed out both kidneys during the descent.
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There, fixed that for them.
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How much later? The guy is 64.
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Definitely! The gc screwed up, big-time. A borderline freaked-out 64 yr old who’s never flown in a high performance aircraft and they don’t suit him up properly and – apparently – remiss in telling him what he could not touch in the cockpit. Idiots.
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They’ll probably want to clean that seat off before they re-install it.
At least, they’d have to if I’d been the one sitting in it.
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I just assume that they left the bits of the narrative about spoiled pants out.
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Odd. Nearly everyone who has ever used a parachute has had their life saved by a parachute. Nearly everyone.
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The pilot was not ejected and managed to land the plane safely, despite suffering some minor facial injuries during the ordeal.
I guess I always thought that one pilot trigging ejection would result in both pilots being ejected. Isn’t that what happened in Top Gun? Under what circumstances would one crew member (deliberately) eject but not the other?
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Yes it’s supposed to.
That it didn’t is actually the more interesting story here - take a look at the report. https://www.aerotime.aero/clement.charpentreau/24788-fighter-jet-crash-averted-by-defect-in-civil-ejection-incident
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As a consequence, his 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.
Unsaid: investigators declined to examine the anti-g pants in detail.
He was declared apt to participate in the flight, under the condition that he would not be submitted to a negative load factor. That information was not communicated to the pilot.
Honestly, this is sounding more and more like a sophisticated murder attempt.
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