Man Accidentally Pulls Eject Lever While Flying in Jet

[Sundowner]

Sounds like their 'egress orientation' program may need tweeking.
Good Gosh....

Sun



 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, who 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.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,571147,00.html?test=latestnews

Here's a better link at The Guardian...
Sun

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/02/south-africa-passenger-ejector-seat

[Ex-jazz]

"As one observer said: "What a trip. That guy took off in an Astra, came down in a parachute, and landed back at base in a helicopter. Not bad for a for a single flip.""

Wow

[OOZ662]

Generally they tell you, "Dude, don't pull this."

[batch]

read this the other night and my first reaction as I read through the article............... ummmm thats not a jet

[Maverick]

It is indeed a jet, it just uses the jet engine to turn a propeller.
 

[batch]

sort of like if I put one of those trailer hitches on my truck that looks like a boat prop....... then I could call it a boat? or at least say its a prop driven truck?

[allaire]

sort of like if I put one of those trailer hitches on my truck that looks like a boat prop....... then I could call it a boat? or at least say its a prop driven truck?

There are no words for how awesome this is.

[saggs]

It is indeed a jet, it just uses the jet engine to turn a propeller.
 

I'm no genius, but wouldn't it be more accurate to say. "It's a turboprop, which uses a turbine engine to turn the prop."

Whereas a jet would use a turbine engine to spin the compressors.

Funny story anyway.

[eagl]

We're flying essentially the same plane, and we've even had instructors unintentionally eject on the ground.  Our solution is that non-rated personnel in the aircraft (except students) will leave the seat pin installed to avoid the risk of unintentional ejection.  Pulling the front handle will send the back seat out first, so they just rely on the instructor pilot to do the ejection handle pulling bit.  If the person getting the ride ever needs to pull the handle (IP dies suddenly inflight?), all they have to do is pull the pin out, drop it on the floor, and then pull the handle. 

[allaire]

I came across a page a couple months ago talking about seat mishaps.  Lets just say that most accidents involving ejects don't end well.
http://www.ejectionsite.com/estories.htm

[Fulmar]

sort of like if I put one of those trailer hitches on my truck that looks like a boat prop....... then I could call it a boat? or at least say its a prop driven truck?

Not a jet.

[Belial]

From what I hear being ejected is very very unpleasant and you don't want to do it...so poor guy lo.

[OOZ662]

Not a jet.
(Image removed from quote.)

[allaire]

Are C-130s jets?

[AirFlyer]

Are C-130s jets?

Nope.