Nervous Man Ejects From Fighter Jet

[Ben]

This should be satire / The Onion, but apparently isn't. 

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

[230RN]

Is there a French "Funniest Videos" program he was shooting for?

[WLJ]

Article is dated April 2020 but I could swear I read this several years ago

[Boomhauer]

WLJ I think I also read it a while back

[WLJ]

March 21 of last year.
Article is dated April 6 2019

https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2019/04/06/sacrebleu-civilian-accidentally-ejected-from-french-fighter-jet-during-fly-along/

[Ben]

I should have known not to trust CNN for current and accurate news.

[Unisaw]

Here’s an article from the Aviationist about the accident investigation.  It sounds like quite a clusterfrack.

https://theaviationist.com/2020/04/09/report-released-on-french-rafale-passengers-accidental-ejection-reveals-both-human-and-technical-failures/

[Fly320s]

Here’s an article from the Aviationist about the accident investigation.  It sounds like quite a clusterfrack.

https://theaviationist.com/2020/04/09/report-released-on-french-rafale-passengers-accidental-ejection-reveals-both-human-and-technical-failures/

What a fustercluck.

Why the hell was the rear seat ejection handle active?  That makes no sense.

[Nick1911]

What a fustercluck.

Why the hell was the rear seat ejection handle active?  That makes no sense.

You know much more then I do about aviation obviously, but I guess I assumed that a safety critical system like ejection would normally be armed and active on a war plane.  I would think that a warplane design would generally assume that you may be engaged at any time, and therefore systems like ejection would be active if you're in the air by default.  NB, this is a laypersons perspective, thoughts?

[Devonai]

From the article, since one person activating the ejection system is supposed to eject both positions, my WAG is that there is no easy way to deactivate the rear seat without deactivating both of them.  The designers probably never asked themselves "what if some nervous Nellie on an incentive ride decided to punch out?"  The thought may not have occurred to the pilot, either; and even if it did, what self-respecting military jock would agree to fly with a deactivated ejection system?

[MechAg94]

The report then said, “During the ejection, the civilian lost his helmet and oxygen mask. Due to a technical flaw of the seat, the dinghy failed to inflate, but fortunately, the incident happened above land. The passenger sustained minor injuries.”

Ironically (more or less), it was a technical malfunction that prevented the pilot from also being ejected from the aircraft along with the rear-seat passenger. The normal ejection sequence for a Dassault Rafale two-seat aircraft would cause both crew members to be ejected even if only one initiates the ejection sequence. This means the rear seat passenger accidentally pulling the ejection seat handle between their legs should have ejected the pilot as well. In this bizarre incident, both the front and rear canopies were disintegrated and ejected by explosive charge, the rear seat left the aircraft, but the pilot’s seat remained inside the aircraft. In other words, a technical glitch saved the aircraft.

So two technical failures in the ejection system on the same incident.  It happens, but I hope they get it fixed. 

He immediately left the aircraft as quickly as possible since his ejection seat was fully armed and the ejection sequence should have already occurred.

[Hawkmoon]

I should have known not to trust CNN for current and accurate news.

It's current because the official investigation report was just released.

[Fly320s]

You know much more then I do about aviation obviously, but I guess I assumed that a safety critical system like ejection would normally be armed and active on a war plane.  I would think that a warplane design would generally assume that you may be engaged at any time, and therefore systems like ejection would be active if you're in the air by default.  NB, this is a laypersons perspective, thoughts?

I've never flown military fighter aircraft, so I'm not familiar with all of their SOPs, but it seems to me that having an untrained person in close proximity to the ejection handle is a bad idea.  I do know that all ejection seats can be put on safe so they aren't accidentally fired, such as when the plane is in the hangar for maintenance.

For a normal demo flight, I don't see any need for ejection seats to be active. 

[Fly320s]

A quick Google shows that the Thunderbirds have live front and rear ejection seats during their press rides.  I couldn't find anything on the status of the rear ejection seats for the Blue Angels' press rides.  I assume those are hot, too.  Both demo teams have had ejections, but none with press/passengers, AFAIK.

The F-16 has a Pilot In Charge switch for who commands the ejection. Front seat in command = both seats eject, back seat first.  Back seat in command = only back seat ejects.

It looks like the F-18 is designed in the same manner.

I find it odd that the military would allow the possibility of the untrained, rear seat passenger the ability to eject himself and possibly damage the aircraft.

[MechAg94]

It may depend on how they do their risk management.  It might be better to just not allow untrained people into the aircraft if the concern is so great. 

[zahc]

^what he said. It's a fighter jet, not a Honda Accord.

[BobR]

Usually part of a back seat brief includes very strong admonishment to keep your booger hooks away from the black and yellow striped handles or else you will find yourself suddenly in the air without an airplane surrounding your soft, squishy bits. This was just a lot of lax procedures piled on stupidity compounded by a faulty ejection seat for the pilot (a good thing in retrospect), not so good if you really needed to leave your burning aircraft.

Seats are hot or safe, there is no in between. Also, most two (or more seaters) have the option of Command ejection, one person pulls the leave now handle and everyone leaves or single where each person is responsible for getting themselves out. From what I remember they almost always fly in Command mode so if one person is incapacitated the other can get everyone out.

For the record I have only flown in two ejection seat types, an F4 and an EA6B, I had no misunderstanding at all about the function of the striped handles and under no circumstances were my hands to get anywhere near them.

bob

[AmbulanceDriver]

Here’s an article from the Aviationist about the accident investigation.  It sounds like quite a clusterfrack.

https://theaviationist.com/2020/04/09/report-released-on-french-rafale-passengers-accidental-ejection-reveals-both-human-and-technical-failures/

Oh yeah.  This was one screw up after another.   I'm thinking Charlie Foxtrot doesn't even *begin* to cover this one.

[WLJ]

Here’s an article from the Aviationist about the accident investigation.  It sounds like quite a clusterfrack.

https://theaviationist.com/2020/04/09/report-released-on-french-rafale-passengers-accidental-ejection-reveals-both-human-and-technical-failures/

Video to go along with that

Mentour Pilot chimes in
Says that the guy wasn't strapped in right and thus while experiencing negative g's was lifted up from his seat and in a panic was trying to grab onto anything. Unfortunately that included the ejection handle. Oh, and his doctor said No negative g's
Bunch of additional info

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1zT7nEZqZM