Accidental ejection from Dassault Rafale!

[mightypeesh]

Ooops - someones in trouble!

Guardian article

[cymaz]

“Up to your eyes in it “, springs to mind.

[Mike T]

Incredible. If he wasn't properly strapped in (to the extent that he could 'stand' ) then you'd have thought the ejection forces would have caused severe spinal injury, if not wiping bits of him off on the airframe!

Edited By Mike T on 14/04/2020 12:48:51

[Keiran Arnold]

Mike,

I suspect he was lucky- the article doesn't mention that the Pilots seat actually failed to "eject" as the command ejection system was set to both, the canopy fired but for some reason the seat didn't

[Mike T]

Yeah - and I think most modern seats cinch up the straps as part of the firing sequence

[Peter Miller]

I would also blame a few people for NOT checking that he was properly strapped in including the pilot

Even his helmet was loose.

[Martin Dilly 1]

There's a well-informed and highly critical thread on the whole mess here: https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/619681-curious-accidental-ejection-rafale.html

An almost unbelievable series of failures by all involved, culminating in the 64 year old civvy passenger using the ejection handle to steady himself as some negative G came on after a excessively steep climb from take-off. Very lucky to have survived with most of his bits in roughly their original positions.