French Retiree Ejects From Fighter Jet

[Deleted]

Maybe civilians with no training shouldn't be allowed to ride along in a fighter jet?

"Our pensioner, heart pounding at "between 136 and 142 beats per minute" (as recorded by his smartwatch), underwent a quick medical exam from a doctor four hours before being shown by the pilot how to put on his safety gear. Unfortunately, no one properly checked him as he clambered into the cockpit – meaning "his [helmet] 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."

"Our pensioner, loose in his straps, not really wanting to be there and totally unused to being flung around like a rag doll, reached out to grab something and hang on for dear life. He picked the worst possible handhold: the trigger handle for the ejection seat. After the customary loud bang and whoosh he ceased to be part of the jet's payload, with the force of the ejection tearing his unsecured helmet and mask from his face."


www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/09/frenchman_ejected_fighter_jet_retirement_jolly/

[Tennesseer]

Apr 13, 2020 15:10:01 GMT -5 @aj said:

Maybe civilians with no training shouldn't be allowed to ride along in a fighter jet?

"Our pensioner, heart pounding at "between 136 and 142 beats per minute" (as recorded by his smartwatch), underwent a quick medical exam from a doctor four hours before being shown by the pilot how to put on his safety gear. Unfortunately, no one properly checked him as he clambered into the cockpit – meaning "his [helmet] 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."

"Our pensioner, loose in his straps, not really wanting to be there and totally unused to being flung around like a rag doll, reached out to grab something and hang on for dear life. He picked the worst possible handhold: the trigger handle for the ejection seat. After the customary loud bang and whoosh he ceased to be part of the jet's payload, with the force of the ejection tearing his unsecured helmet and mask from his face."


www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/09/frenchman_ejected_fighter_jet_retirement_jolly/

Quite the experience for the pensioner.

[Value Buy]

I wondered about the article.
The way it is written is a little strange, with too much humor......

[deminmaine]

Apr 15, 2020 7:13:55 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

I wondered about the article.
The way it is written is a little strange, with too much humor......

Well chap, quite the classic British take on the maladroit experience of a Frenchman, eh what?  

[Deleted]

Apr 15, 2020 7:13:55 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

I wondered about the article.
The way it is written is a little strange, with too much humor......

I first read this CNN article and thought it was something out of the Onion, so I googled and found the hilarious British take on it.

www.cnn.com/travel/article/france-fighter-jet-ejection-scli-intl/index.html

[ken a.k.a OMK]

I was going to say some things didn't sound right about this story, like the pilot not being ejected too, then I read this:

But of all the things that went wrong during this incident, one of them actually ended up saving the aircraft. According to Aerotime, the ejection handle should have ejected both the man and the pilot, but a technical flaw got in the way (emphasis ours):



The fighter jet was set up to, under normal conditions, eject both the pilot and his passenger when one of them pulls on the ejection handle. The BEA-E explains the procedure of a Rafale double ejection in four stages: first, the back canopy is shattered by a line of explosives embedded into the glass, before the passenger seat is ejected. Then, the front canopy is also destroyed, and the pilot seat is the last to leave the fighter jet.



But in this case, the last stage failed and, despite his canopy being ejected, the pilot remained in his seat. Local media reported at the time that the glass of the canopy had slightly injured his hands. Nonetheless, he remained master of his aircraft. “He then remained calm to pilot his plane despite the multitude of failure messages that the on-board computer displays and an unusual aircraft centering following the loss of the rear seat and the canopy,” says the investigation, which analyzed the radio recordings.

He is lucky though. I know even trained pilots, properly secured to the seat can get injured during an ejection.

[Value Buy]

I was sort of surprised this joy ride/flight was even happening during the Coronavirus pandemic. France was in the middle of it in March.........

[dondub]

Apr 15, 2020 15:55:47 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

I was sort of surprised this joy ride/flight was even happening during the Coronavirus pandemic. France was in the middle of it in March.........

Being in a fighter jet is excellent social distancing!

[Tennesseer]

Apr 15, 2020 16:04:51 GMT -5 dondub said:

Apr 15, 2020 15:55:47 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

I was sort of surprised this joy ride/flight was even happening during the Coronavirus pandemic. France was in the middle of it in March.........

Being in a fighter jet is excellent social distancing!

Aren't you wearing an oxygen face mask in a fighter jet? PPE on board.