Posted on 04/13/2020 2:35:22 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
A surprise company outing to an air base caused a 64-year-old French man so much stress that he flung himself from a fighter jet in midair, grabbing the ejector button in a panic and tumbling through the skies above France before landing in a field.
The man had been surprised by fellow employees, who had organized a joyride in a Dassault Rafale B jet for him as a treat.
Once the man arrived at the Saint-Dizier air base in northeastern France and realized what his co-workers had arranged, he began to feel extremely stressed, according to a fairly remarkable aviation accident report by a French government agency. The unnamed man had never expressed any desire to fly in a fighter jet and had no previous military aviation experience. Thanks to a watch he was wearing, investigators noticed that "his heart was in full tachycardia" before the flight, with a heart rate ranging from 136-142 beats per minute.
But the man went through with the ride, joining a three-plane training exercise as a passenger. The Rafale B is used by the French air force, and has a maximum speed of 870 mph.
At 2,500 feet AGL, the pilot began to climb, the passenger panicked and reached for something to hold onto -- the ejector seat button -- and the 64-year-old flew from the fighter jet. To make matters worse, he had not securely attached his helmet, which went flying in midair.
The man avoided seriously injury after tumbling to earth in a field near the German border. Investigators concluded that the error was caused by an involuntary reflex, prompted by stress and the jet's sudden movement.
The pilot was not ejected and managed to land the plane safely. The passenger, meanwhile, was taken to a nearby hospital after the flight.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I bet ejection costs extra.
That gave me a chuckle.
Bet that’s his last joy ride in a jet.
How embarrassing to have the whole world told about your premature ejectulation.
If that was someone’s idea of a joke, it wasn’t funny.
Nope, you can’t make it up.
Wonder if they will bill him for the damage?
Yes, but did he have Covid-19? And why wasn’t he self-isolating?
“Whatever you do, don’t pull THIS LEVER.”
It was full of German tourists.
The macabe joke at the time is that the French killed more Germans in that episode than they did in the entire May 1940 Battle of France.
ALMOST as good a story as the guy giving Boy Scouts helicopter rides in a Robinson (which has that funny T-stick) and in fright one of the scouts grabs ahold of that T-stick ...
Thats good! LOL.
I.m still laughing, this is funny. He got the ride of his life!!
Actual losses in Battle of France.
French lost 360,000 dead and wounded.
2200 aircraft lost, 1750 tanks lost.
The Brits lost 600 tanks before the Tea drinking surrender monkeys did the brave Sir Robin and fled the battlefield.
The Germans lost;
27,074 dead
111,034 wounded
18,384 missing
1,129 aircrew killed
(c. 27,000 dead)
1,236 aircraft lost
795–822 tanks destroyed
157,621 total casualties
It’s bullshit to slander the French military because of the poor ability and capitulation of their politicians.
Not to mention in WWI where the the French lost 1.1 million dead and 4.2 million wounded. But all we hear about is Flanders fields, 744,000 poppies, and 1.6 million wounded.
And of course, then there was Singapore. Where the Brits surrendered to a Jap force a third their size.
But yes, do tell us more about French cowardice./s
“Well, if you don’t like the ride, you can just get out and walk!”
FWIW, this incident smells vaguely of “stunt.” Kudos to the old man for successfully bailing anyway! The manufacturer is probably glad to learn that their ejection mechanism is damn near fool-proof!
Is it common to have separate ejection seats in
a fighter jet?
Marko.
I bet he had to change his shorts!
He'd just crapped his pants, and thought it was the flush handle.
Is there a French version of “Florida Man”, ‘cause this story has “Florida Man” written all over it.
Wonder how many here know that joke.
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