Civilian ejected from a French Rafale

Seems there was a bit of an incident on takeoff involving a two seater Rafale and a 64 year old man being ejected from the aircraft on take off.
link

Ooops comes to mind.

a reply to: Woody510

So, several comments on this one...

First, it's a wonder he wasn't killed! It's even more astonishing the pilot was able to land after his backseat ejected!!! That's like having a rocket launch right next to your head! The blast must have been incredible!

Second, gotta' love the journalism here...

He suffered serious injuries, including back injuries and was hospitalized. He’s reportedly in stable conditions and his health is not a cause of concern according to a French Air Force spokesman.

So, this guy has a "premature ejection" from a fighter jet and suffers "serious injuries, including back injuries...", but yet his "health is not a cause for concern"? I guess the millions in damage probably IS a 'cause for concern' though!

a reply to: Woody510

how many military personel have suffered n " involutary eject "

that was not thier or thier co-crews fault ???

suppose it could be worse - if the aircraft had gone down - and the proffesional pilot pulled " eject both " - and the civilian stayed in the cockpit

a reply to: ignorant_ape

if the aircraft had gone down - and the proffesional pilot pulled " eject both " - and the civilian stayed in the cockpit

You made me laugh ..

a reply to: ignorant_ape

In cases like this, it usually turns out that the person ejected reached for something to grab onto during a sudden direction change and accidentally pulled the handle.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Probably a language gap problem. He has serious injuries but they are not considered life-threatening, is probably a proper interpretation.

Taking a ride like that is no joke. Serious stress on the spine. Lots of people with long-term back problems after an ejection. Especially early seats. The early rail seats in training weren't safe either.


Did the guy grab the handles to hold on for some reason? I'm still occasionally surprised at some of the people who are allowed to take rides. Know a buddy who took someone up who decided to basically "stand" on the rudder pedals bracing themselves in a turn. He thought it was a mechanical failure before he looked over and saw the guy straight legged. Said he was glad they didn't depart.

a reply to: RadioRobert

After the B-2 crash one of the crew had to be flown to Hawaii for treatment. He spent something like 3 months in the hospital all told, just because of ejection injuries.

The more I've thought about this, I'm just stunned the pilot could actually land after that!

Has that ever even happened before, where one crew ejects and the other safely lands the plane???

The blast from the ejection event must have been incredible. I would think the concussion, let alone the over-pressure, would be enough to render the remaining pilot unconscious.

I knew a USAF pilot who endured an ejection once (I think it might have been a T-38, but don't recall exactly) and it ended his flying career. He said it was the ... "single most violent experience he could have ever comprehended!". Said they trained for it, but the real thing was 1,000 times more violent. In fact, he said the only thing he could remember about the actual ejection was thinking about how incomprehensibly unprepared he was for the forces involved in the real deal. Compressed his spine so hard he was 1.5" shorter afterwards. Spent months in rehab too.

DBL

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

It's happened several times

a reply to: RadioRobert

Huh...well those dudes get the "Badass of the Year" awards then!

ETA - Nothin' like havin' someone pop out the window at 350mph.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

It's not that hard to do. You want to see hard, try this one.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Holy s*@t, what the hell happened there ? Nothin beats stickin' your head out the sunroof on a hot summers day eh

a reply to: nelloh62

They were the KA-6D for that launch, flying off the Lincoln. They had a problem with one of the fuel tanks so were following established procedures to fix it, when the seat apparently malfunctioned and went through the canopy. He suffered brutal injuries to his arms and shoulders, but flew again within six months.

theaviationist.com...

In the early 80's I remember hearing about a guy working in the cockpit of an A-7 and inadvertently tripping the ejection seat in the hangar bay of the USS Ranger. Line crew forgot to put the pins in and he forgot to check.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
The more I've thought about this, I'm just stunned the pilot could actually land after that!

Has that ever even happened before, where one crew ejects and the other safely lands the plane???

The blast from the ejection event must have been incredible. I would think the concussion, let alone the over-pressure, would be enough to render the remaining pilot unconscious.

I knew a USAF pilot who endured an ejection once (I think it might have been a T-38, but don't recall exactly) and it ended his flying career. He said it was the ... "single most violent experience he could have ever comprehended!". Said they trained for it, but the real thing was 1,000 times more violent. In fact, he said the only thing he could remember about the actual ejection was thinking about how incomprehensibly unprepared he was for the forces involved in the real deal. Compressed his spine so hard he was 1.5" shorter afterwards. Spent months in rehab too.

I think the EJs are synced anyway so the rear punches first.

The direction of the travel means the aircraft with the pilot is still travelling forwards and away from the rear blast.

If the front went first it would go over the rear and cook him.

If they were both at the same time there could be a collision.

Also iirc if the front punches the rear goes anyway, but the rear can punch on their own.

a reply to: Forensick

It depends on how the switches are set. They can be set so the rear initiates, front initiates, or both have to pull their own handles. That's what happened with the A-29 on WSMR. They were set to single because of an AD that didn't apply to that aircraft. Back seat went out near 9,000 feet, by the time the pilot pulled his handle he was below 2,000.

Off memory a kid accidentally set one off at an airshow and died.Harrier?

I'll eagerly await the official explanation.

When you eject from a jet, it means you are willing to risk severe injury--and *probably* survive--rather than stay in the jet and be fairly certain you will be killed in a crash.

That is the reality of emergency egress in flight.

Most pilots that have ejected suffer from long-term or permanent physical issues because of the intense G forces created by the rocket motor that shoots the seat out of the jet. At worst, it's a broken back or a broken neck. More often it's compressed/crushed vertibrae. Sometimes it's a broken leg or broken arm because it whacked the edge of the cockpit as the pilot departed the jet. It's very fast and quite violent. And it often ends an officer's military flying career.

Back in the early '80s at Osan AB ROK, a ground maintenance troop popped the seat in an RF-4 and was killed. In '86 in Oman, one of our guys had to punch out of an F-16 and the canopy failed to separate, so he got shot through the bubble. Messed him up pretty bad, but he lived to tell the tale.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

It's not that hard to do. ...

Really??

So YOU do it all the time, right?