A passenger enjoying a civilian joyride accidentally cut the trip short when he ejected himself from the plane after grabbing the eject lever while trying to brace himself.
The passenger was flying in a Pilatus PC-7 Mk II with an air force pilot friend, The Daily Mail reported.
He was instantly blasted 320-feet into the sky by the rocket-powered chair, before floating to the ground with an automatic parachute, the paper reported.
Air Force officers quickly deployed a helicopter to retrieve the passenger after his fall 80 miles south of Cape Town, South Africa.
The pilot of the craft, Captain Gerhard Lourens, is a long-time member of the Silver Falcons air force air display team, according to The Daily Mail.
Okay, I saw this story the other day and I’ve been thinking about this ever since. The reason I posted this article mainly is because I’ve been confused as to why pulling an ejection handle would eject one, but not both passengers? What purpose would that serve - except in a situation exactly like this one? What if one passenger was incapacitated and the other was able to pull the handle? He’d go down with the jet? This sounds like a terribly flawed design. And another pilot out of a job I suppose too.
It depends on the aircraft, some only eject the one, some eject both, and many have a switch that can select either. I’m a little surprised at this though, usually the brief from the pilot of an aircraft with ejector seats is all about not touching that **** handle!
Okay, so some jets are equipped to allow either to eject. Why?!? I cannot figure one reason where it would be necessary for one person to eject, but not the other. Never been in a jet with the option for ejection, so maybe I’m missing something. I’ll tell you one thing - if I ever got a ride with the blue angels/t-birds (And I ask God for that wish almost every day) and the pilot ejects for some reason, I’m not going to be sitting around trying to figure things out. I’d want out of that damn jet!
Thanks for that Eric - that story may be even crazier. So I’m thinking (or hoping, from a rational standpoint) that:
Either pilot or passenger can choose to eject. If pilot ejects, both pilot and passenger are ejected. If passenger is ejected, he solely is ejected from jet. The reason for this would be in case pilot is unconscious, or unable to pull handle, the passenger can make that choice - as whether to eject or not? (This would still leave a pilot going down with his plane if he’s unable to pull lever?) If pilot pulls handle, hopefully both would be ejected, rather than have a bystander going down in an unmanned aircraft. In an event such as these two incidents, the pilot is still strapped in and able to make a landing, rather than subjecting people on the ground with a wayward “missile”?
As you guys can see, I’ve thought about this (and the different scenario’s) alot over the last two days…
In 2-seater tandem military aircraft the rear seat always goes first. The reason is that if the front-seat crew member went first the exhaust from the rocket motor of his ejection seat would fry the back-seat crew member. Now the pilot (front seat) has the ability in all 2-seaters to pop out his rear seat person. The front-seater can’t go until the rear-seater does So anyone in the back when they hear over their intercom “Eject! Eject! Eject!” they’d better be gone in a hurry because if they delay the front-seater can initiate rear-seat ejection.
Rear-seat can elect to go while the front-seater stays but it’s not vice-versa.
While both seats are operated indendently the person up front has control over both seats.
But I want to know one of the orginal questions about how to get the pilot out if he is knocked out and the back seater pulls the seat. If I remember right from Top Gun, the most accurate military movie ever is that Goose pulled the seat and they both punched out. Might have to call the local ANG unit and ask if the back seater has the option of doing both.
I believe, and its been several years that I had to safety an old Martin-Baker 7 alphas on a Tomcat, (part of a drill for crash-crew) theres a “Command Eject” option in the Pilot and RIO area. Like I said, its been several years. Somebody might wanna check on this.
I can tell you F-4 Phantoms were the same way. Each person could select either single or command eject. The front seat can eject by itself. The purpose of command ejection is to sequence the seats so they don’t both leave at the same time.
In the movie, Goose pulled the handle because Maverick couldn’t reach it in the flat spin. He ejected first and hit the canopy as it was being jettisoned. I was saying that the reason he was killed is because the rear passenger (Goose) is always ejected first. And isn’t this alot to think about (to eject both?, front?, rear? and turning the appropriate knobs?) - all as you’re going down? Time is of the essence and seconds count in those situations. That’s alot to think about in a very short amount of time.
I believe in most cases the handle is just left in command, unless something comes up where there is a reason to switch to single. When its time to go, you go, not worry about the switches. You must remember Top Gun was a movie, but I believe the story line was that the canopy did not properly clear the aircraft because of the flat spin, which is why Goose hit it. Under most circumstances the canopy would be swept away by the slipstream before the crew shoots out. I remember seeing in an interview that the incident in the movie was rewritten by suggestion from some of the real pilots that helped during the movie. Apparently this accident was more realistic than what was originally written.
I have witnessed three ejections, an A-6 on T/O after getting its engines fodded out, An A-7 at the 90 on approach to the deck due to loss of pwr, and a tomcat from a cold cat-shot. and each time theres no way the pilot or RIO could hit the canopy if they tried. Just a nice dramatical touch to the movie.
Edit: however didnt think about the flat spin. That puts the aircraft in a different attitude altogether. Very little slipstream.
I’ve read in the past too that the same thing had happened during tomcats in flat spins (in regards to the canopy not clearing the aircraft) and that just like the movie, the RIO’s in the rear were killed when they hit the canopy. I’ve also heard that it’s a very violent experience and that a large amount of pilot’s that eject never fly again (or at least not for the military) because of the permanent damage it causes. But, we also had an F-16D crash here in the Charleston harbor about 4 years ago and both pilot’s walked away perfectly fine. I suppose in those situations, it’s a game of inches and there’s a fine line between walking away and being carried away.
That is what I remember from the interview, the original crash was completely unrealistic, so the pilots working with the producers found a real crash that would work better. The window for a completely safe ejection is very small. Everything from altitude and speed, to the position of the pilot can mean the difference from walking away to death.
Ejection Seats are very simple. They are independent, self contained units. If you pull the handle on an armed seat the canopy bolts blow and the seat motors ignite and you’re gone. It’s the same for any A/C equipped with the same seat, F-22 or J-3 Cub, it’s based on the seat.
There’s a selectable command switch on multi crew planes that allows a conscious pilot to shoot an unconscious or otherwise incapacitated pilot out along with him… the timing is controlled by a transistor board (or computer calculation now-a-days I guess).
is that Goose pulled the seat and they both punched out. Might have to call the local ANG unit and ask if the back seater has the option of doing both.