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I've always wanted to fly in a fighter jet. This fucker did, and promptly GTFO

52-80

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52-80

52-80 19162

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https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/france-fighter-jet-ejection-scli-intl/index.html

 

(CNN) — A surprise company outing to an air base caused a 64-year-old French man so much stress that he flung himself from a fighter jet in midair, grabbing the ejector button in a panic and tumbling through the skies above France before landing in a field.
The man had been surprised by employees at his firm, who had organized a joyride in a Dassault Rafale B jet for him as a treat.
 
But they apparently didn't know their colleague as well as they thought. Once the man arrived at the Saint-Dizier air base in northeastern France in March 2019 and realized what his co-workers had arranged, he began to feel extremely stressed, according to a fairly remarkable aviation accident report by a French government agency.
 
The unnamed man had never expressed any desire to fly in a fighter jet and had no previous military aviation experience, investigators discovered.
And thanks to a watch he was wearing which could measure his heart rate, investigators noticed that "his heart was in full tachycardia" before the flight, with a recorded heart rate ranging from 136 to 142 beats per minute.
But the man went through with the ride, joining a three-plane training exercise as a passenger. The Rafale B is used by the French air force, and has a maximum speed of nearly 1,400 kilometers per hour (870 miles per hour).
An image from the report, which details the man's surprise ejection.
 
 
An image from the report, which details the man's surprise ejection.
 
 
When the jet was 2,500 feet above ground and the pilot began to climb, the passenger panicked and reached for something to hold onto.
Unfortunately, that something was the ejector seat button -- and the 64-year-old flew from the fighter jet.
To make matters worse, he had not securely attached his helmet, which went flying in midair.
Fortunately, the man avoided seriously injury after parachuting to earth in a field near the German border.
Investigators concluded that the error was caused by an involuntary reflex, prompted by stress and the jet's sudden movement.
The pilot was not ejected and managed to land the plane safely, despite suffering some minor facial injuries during the ordeal.
The passenger, meanwhile, was taken to a nearby hospital after the flight.

 

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31495

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What's more, I think all ejector "buttons" require the use of both hands, for positivity in actuation and to locate both hands/arms out of harm's way.

So he didn't hit a single "button," he grabbed two striped handles at head level and pulled.

Welp, I'm wrong.  He grabbed for his junk.

eject16f.jpg

Edited by TwiceHorn
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Onboard 2.0

Onboard 2.0 9083

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1 hour ago, Not a cat said:

They make it sound like it was an accident- he reached for something to hold onto.

Seems like that might be one of the key features in preflight orientation, "hey if you grab this you'll be a few thousand feet up with no plane".

And about an inch shorter.

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InkaUtexas

InkaUtexas 25984

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50 minutes ago, Mighty fine said:

In the write up linked over on the airplane fanatics thread, the story mentioned that activating the ejector on one seat is supposed to auto eject the other cockpit seat. The canopy was gone, but luckily for the pilot, his seat didn't fire

Seat made by Renault. 

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Hate

Hate 20112

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That is bad ass.  How much better is the story than simply a fighter jet ride on his birthday. 

Exactly. Not only did he fly in a jet, but he ejected from it and then floated back to earth with the help of a parachute. That’s epic! How many fighter pilots have even ejected from a flight? It’s all downhill for this guy now.
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