64 yr old Passenger, Accidental Ejection from Fighter

Report is back on the 64 yr old who grabbed the ejection handles on climbout in a Rafale 13 months ago.

Aviationist

Employee at a defense contractor has his work buddies arrange a ride in a Rafale. Goes to hang on and grabs the ejection handles. By some miracle, the ejection sequence malfunctions and the pilot stays with the canopy-less plane to safely land it. Passenger landed like a bag of potatoes, but survives.

The pilot of the Dassault Rafale managed to maintain control authority of the aircraft despite both canopies being gone, dump fuel and make an emergency landing. He immediately left the aircraft as quickly as possible since his ejection seat was fully armed and the ejection sequence should have already occurred.

The reason for the failure of the pilot’s ejection seat in the escape sequence was reported as, “The explosion [from the initial rear seat ejection] ruptured the casing of the sequence selector supposed to trigger the pilot ejection seat.”

a reply to: RadioRobert

You say the passenger landed like a sack of potatoes. Did his parachute not work? I read the article but didn't see anything about his parachute not working.

a reply to: RadioRobert

Employee at a defense contractor has his work buddies arrange a ride in a Rafale.

It seems his work buddies surprised him with it and it wasn't something he necessarily wanted. He'd look like a complete # to his friends for turning it down because he was scared.

The report identified the passenger as, “A 64-year-old employee of a French defense manufacturer,” Who, according to the report, “was offered a discovery flight on a Dassault Rafale B fighter jet as a surprise by four of his colleagues, including a former pilot of the French Air Force that organized the gift.”

Part of the report indicated that the passenger may have only accepted the aircraft ride under pressure from peers who arranged the surprise flight. Upon entering the aircraft, the passenger’s heart rate was, “recorded between 136 and 142 beats per minute.” And that, “The investigation found that the safety checks of the passenger had been approximate at best.”

a reply to: Alien Abduct

a 64 year old with zero prior training // experience

who ejected himself " in error "

is not going to make a text-book perfect landing

he is lucky not to have sustained injury from the eject - the OP prob has good stats on injury rates - but young and fit pilots do get eject injuries [ mostly spinal ] due to the accelleration of the seat leving the cockpit

and landing is always more pleasant if you are trained to do it as the manual states - which its unlikley he would have neen trained upto

so - all in - a lucky chap

i be no one will take him flying ever again though

originally posted by: Alien Abduct
a reply to: RadioRobert

You say the passenger landed like a sack of potatoes. Did his parachute not work? I read the article but didn't see anything about his parachute not working.

Parachute worked. He just didn't know how. Plunk. They never revealed the extent of his injuries that I saw, but said they were serious and included back injuries. Lost his helmet ejecting, so maybe a concussion or other head injuries.

originally posted by: FlyingSquirrel
a reply to: RadioRobert

Employee at a defense contractor has his work buddies arrange a ride in a Rafale.

It seems his work buddies surprised him with it and it wasn't something he necessarily wanted. He'd look like a complete # to his friends for turning it down because he was scared.

The report identified the passenger as, “A 64-year-old employee of a French defense manufacturer,” Who, according to the report, “was offered a discovery flight on a Dassault Rafale B fighter jet as a surprise by four of his colleagues, including a former pilot of the French Air Force that organized the gift.”

Part of the report indicated that the passenger may have only accepted the aircraft ride under pressure from peers who arranged the surprise flight. Upon entering the aircraft, the passenger’s heart rate was, “recorded between 136 and 142 beats per minute.” And that, “The investigation found that the safety checks of the passenger had been approximate at best.”

Yeah, it was a surprise, and they rushed him through an orientation and strapped him in. The report says he never expressed a desire for any such flight, especially in a Rafale. They way it was worded made me think he might be afraid of flying.

So they toss him in and the groundcrew never double checks his harnesses. Pilot pulled 4g on climb out, and then unloaded and let him float in a bit of negative g. Threw him up towards the cockpit so he reached for something, and that some thing was the handles. Then he really got the g experience.

SACRE BLEU !!!!!

It’s only funny because the guy survived, otherwise I wouldn’t be laughing here.

And shoot, let this be the case study on how not to allow untrained people to go for joy rides.
Props to the pilot though for holding that bird together.

a reply to: RadioRobert

This drawing is taken from the other thread on the same topic, quality comedy gold by one of our own!

Far more concerning is the fact that the pilot's seat didn't fire. It's good that it didn't, because it saved the jet, but there have been multiple ejection system issues lately.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Does each manufacturer design and engineer their own ejection seat parts?
Or is it farmed out to The lowest bidder?

a reply to: Macenroe82

There are a couple of manufacturers. It's pretty much Collins/UTC and Martin-Baker for the big ones. The Rafale uses the Mk16 from Martin-Baker. The B-1 uses UTC's ACES II.

a reply to: RadioRobert

“The explosion [from the initial rear seat ejection] ruptured the casing of the sequence selector supposed to trigger the pilot ejection seat.”

Wow. How is that even possible? Sounds like a serious technical flaw.

a reply to: Zaphod58

And the dinghy didn't inflate for the guy that did get ejected. I suspect some of the, err, loose rules in the AdA are going tightened a bit.

originally posted by: moebius
a reply to: RadioRobert

“The explosion [from the initial rear seat ejection] ruptured the casing of the sequence selector supposed to trigger the pilot ejection seat.”

Wow. How is that even possible? Sounds like a serious technical flaw.

It should not be possible. Single point failure is a big no-no.

originally posted by: opethPA
a reply to: RadioRobert

This drawing is taken from the other thread on the same topic, quality comedy gold by one of our own!

I knew we had a thread. I was pretty sure I participated, but got tired of scrolling back and looking for it.

youtu.be...

a reply to: RadioRobert

That guy got Yeeted from a jet.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" that guy probably.

a reply to: Zaphod58

On the Rafale, is this a known issue?
Or have there been no other instances of this before with that craft.

a reply to: Macenroe82

There haven't been many ejection events with the fleet, so there's not really any way to tell at this point.