Involuntary Ejection

[willedoo]

Came across this story I hadn't heard before about an Israeli pilot ejecting while unconsious after a bird strike:

 

' Most Miraculous Ejection:

 

This one goes to an Israeli pilot flying an A4 Skyhawk at low level approx. 350 kts. The pilot reports he was flying straight and level, then he was lying on his back on the valley floor with a massive headache. Israeli analysis of his damaged helmet and the debris of the aircraft detected traces of bird blood and a single feather as well as fragments of HUD glass in his face. Apparently he was the victim of a bird strike directly to the front wind screen. The bird continued thru the canopy, demolished the HUD and smashed the visor on the pilots helmet, knocking him unconcious. How did he eject?

 

Answer: enough of the birds corpse deflected upward off his helmet to strike the upper ejection handles and fire the seat. '

 

Found some other references that it was in 1983 or '84, apparently it broke a vertebrae in his neck, at about 300 feet he collided with a honey buzzard. They say birdstrikes are common in Israel, something to do with migratory paths.

 

There must be a few cases around of involuntary ejections, I seem to remember something about one in South Africa where a passenger accidently grabbed the handle and ejected.

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

 

[Spin]

How lucky can you get?!!

 

There are a few celebrated cases, a SR-71 pilot got spat out by the remains of his aircraft after an inflight breakup. There was also the Tomcat Cabrio, a reasonably senior USN officer was getting a joy flight of some description and apparently grabbed the lower handle after shifting in his straps whilst inverted. I may have a photo somewhere in my collection. I seem to recall they based an episode of JAG loosely around the incident.

 

I think the SA incident was a journalist in a PC-7 Astra; the SAAF also lost a mechanic after he banged out of a Aermacchi 326 Impala, unfortunately whilst it was in the hangar.:(

 

 

[Spin]

Here ya go, along with the story as she is told in internet land. I've never seen it debunked though....

 

[ATTACH=full]1094[/ATTACH]

 

In November 2002, while training in Nevada, VF-213, an F-14D squadron, was tasked with giving a Familiarization Flight to an officer from one of the Aegis Class Cruisers. Apparently this individual's harness straps were not properly adjusted. While pushing negative Gs he began to float out of the ejection seat. In order to readjust his position he reached down and grabbed that little yellow and black stripped handle. Bang! The next thing he knew he was no longer in the Tomcat. He landed with minor injuries, was rescued and the Tomcat was recovered safely at NAS Fallon (defineatly a very breezy and noisy ride back). Unknown if it will ever fly again.

 

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[willedoo]

That Aermacchi incident would have been bad. I never really followed up the story of the recent Red Arrows accident. I believe it was a zero/zero seat but don't know what the final verdict was.

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

 

[Spin]

Reminds me there was also one in the UK, a Strikemaster or similar, lost the passenger through the canopy whilst inverted. The ejector seat had been deactivated but wasn't properly secured and merely rode up(down) the rails and out! I think it was the pilot's brother and he was half throttled by a parachute harness. Theory was the only reason he survived was because he landed on a steep grassy slope, which decelerated him a little more gently than you would otherwise expect.

 

 

[willedoo]

There's a bit of interesting stuff on this site, it's where I first found the Israeli story. There's also a bit about an A-6 partial ejection that gets a lot of mention around the internet.

 

http://www.ejectionsite.com/

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

 

[Spin]

That's a great link Willie - thanks.

 

 

[bas]

Not involuntary, but also not required:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Belgian_MiG-23_crash

 

 

 

 

[willedoo]

Not involuntary, but also not required:

That's quite an amazing story, shame it had such a tragic end.

 

Cheers, Willie.