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I know the seats are designed that way and I know the pilots are well trained in their use. Somehow I doubt that knowledge helped loosen the pucker factor for this pilot at all. Coming out of one of those things at that angle and getting one swing on the silk before you find the ground can't be a good feeling. I recall one pilot friend who referred to as "his @sshole eating his shorts."

Knew a guy when I was in the AF who got a chute just above the trees after dropping from 14,000 ft. He was an F-4 nav before coming to UPT and reached (several times) in the wrong place for the handle in the T-38 that just came apart around him. Man/seat separator broke behind him and he had to get himself out of the seat. He was a really good pilot and a great guy. Only survivor in that mid-air. (I lost 3 good friends that day.) I was delighted to see him back in the cockpit following the compression fracture (6 months on medical). Went on to get an F-15 after UPT.