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  • Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.

    Post 16 Update

    Post 17 Warning

OY: Lets hope this pilot is ok...

Yes, a friend of mine in Lethbridge called me a few minutes after it happened. Pilot safely ejected and in hospital. His head/neck position in the photos suggests some neck injury - I hope I'm wrong.

When I lived in Alberta, I'd go to this airshow - small, but friendly. Pity about the loss of the '18, but a life spared ... could have been worse.

I'll be at the Abbotsford show in a couple of weeks just down the road from where we live - hopefully the Hornet's scheduled performance will still go forward.

Here's to a swift recovery.

dl
 
Remarkable series of shots! As dl says, the pilot's head appears to have gone forward with the ejection forces - hope his neck vertebra are ok.

Mike
 
You don't ever punch out without some sort of injury; back, neck, leg etc. It's a very violent process but much better than being dead! I'm sure he'll fly again.
 
Yeah nice timing on the eject sequence!! Hopefully he's ok! I think I've seen that jet at an airshow in 2006
 
Am sure that pilot will be about 3/4 of an inch shorter (leastwise temporarily) than he was prior to that ejection. And yes, his neck vertebrae definitely took a beating with that force.

Taking care of ejection seat systems is what I was trained to do!

Navy Chief
 
I once saw a Harrier pilot punch out much lower than that. He was doing practice landings on a ship in the Bay of Bengal during Operation Sea Angel. On his last attempted touch down he didn't see the guy on deck waving him off and came down anyway with one gear on the deck and the other not. The Harrier started to tip over and he punched out almost sideways.

His chute just filled up with air when he hit the water. The Harrier went in the drink leaving only a big splash and a steam cloud. We all pretty much agreed that he was gonna get hammered for that one.
 
The first shot shows a very significant telltale; the left engine exhaust opened up (full power?) and the right engine exhaust choked down (engine failure?). That would explain the yaw/roll to the right.

But, who knows... The video of it is kinda baffling...all through the roll and yaw over prior to ejection, all control surfaces stop moving and freeze in the neutral position.
 
If you listen carefully at the end of the video, you can hear a voice (probably a child) asking, "Is that supposed to happen?"

As Art Linkletter famously said, "Kids say the darndest things!"
 
Scratch said:
I once saw a Harrier pilot punch out much lower than that. He was doing practice landings on a ship in the Bay of Bengal during Operation Sea Angel. On his last attempted touch down he didn't see the guy on deck waving him off and came down anyway with one gear on the deck and the other not. The Harrier started to tip over and he punched out almost sideways.

His chute just filled up with air when he hit the water. The Harrier went in the drink leaving only a big splash and a steam cloud. We all pretty much agreed that he was gonna get hammered for that one.
Click to expand...

We lost 23 AV-8A's and 16 pilots at MCAS Cherry Point during 1983! I've been some crashes like you wouldn't believe! Sad!
 
I once had a canopy deploy when I was in a head down on my back position. The risers went buy on the left side and snapped the helmet off my head. I still suffer neck problems from that. I can't imagine what that pilot went through.

VCN-1
 
From an Egress Specialists perspective, this is a great series of shots that shows almost every stage of the ejection sequence. Very similar to the widely viewed shot of the Thunderbird ejection many years ago. We rarely get the chance to view our system in action and this is great from that perspective.

AcesII systems put a force of 16g's on the pilot during the ejection sequence and head positioning is all important, it should be second nature to get your head tight against the headrest, but there's also a lot going on in that instant of decision to eject. Always great to hear that another one survived to fight again.
 
MudMarine said:
We lost 23 AV-8A's and 16 pilots at MCAS Cherry Point during 1983! I've been some crashes like you wouldn't believe! Sad!
Click to expand...

Damn. The pilot survived the incident I mentioned. He didn't seem to be hurt all that bad. I saw him standing up in the boat that picked him up.
 
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