A 64-year-old French engineer who had worked most of his life in the aviation manufacturing industry
got an unexpected gift from his colleagues: the chance to fly aboard a supersonic fighter jet.
The incredulous civilian wasn’t even interested in flying a French Dassault Rafale supersonic
fighter jet capable of reaching Mach 1.8 speeds. He was mostly terrified.
In March of 2019, the man arrived at the Saint-Dizier air base in northeastern France
unbeknownst to what awaited him. After a quick medical check-up and a crash course in aviation,
he sat in the passenger seat and braced himself.
After the aircraft took off, it was put through a negative gravitational load factor. This maneuver
gave the sensation of being upside down, and the passenger tried to hold onto something.
Little did he know that he was pulling the ejector handle.
And that he would live to tell the tale...
A One-of-a-Kind Gift
Not all aircraft engineers and specialists are fond of the idea of flying.
They may love aircraft, but not necessarily flying them.
That’s precisely what a 64-year-old French manager from a defense manufacturer felt
before his colleagues surprised him with the opportunity to fly a fighter jet. The man had
never manifested any interest or desire in flying military aircraft, but he went along with it.
And even though he greatly admired fighter pilots, the civilian had never taken a flying
training course. He was passionate about building aircraft, not becoming a pilot.
His colleagues had gotten flight permission from the government,
so they arranged for him to fly aboard a French Dassault Rafale B fighter jet.
The aircraft was part of the French Air Force and had a maximum speed of almost 870 miles per hour.
When the engineer arrived at the Saint-Dizier air base and found out what was going on,
he was terrified and went pale. The engineer only had a few hours
to mentally prepare for what awaited him.
The Frenchman tried to calm himself up as he was taken to a
hangar for a debriefing and a medical examination.
Some pilots nearby noticed that his smartwatch registered a heart rate of more than 130 beats per
minute, way more than the average 60 to 100 beats. Nevertheless, the doctor that examined him gave
the green light, despite the standard procedure of doing the examination 10 days prior to flying.
The French engineer got dressed like a combat pilot and was given a two-hour
crash course in aircraft safety and what to do in the case of emergencies.
He was going to be part of a training exercise with two other aircraft,
and the jet would be piloted by a veteran military pilot with over 2,000 hours of flight experience.
Overwhelmed by the amount of information he had just heard,
the man did not adjust his seat straps and helmet properly before take-off. But nobody verified it.
An Unexpected Ejection
The pilot took off quickly. As the aircraft got farther away from the ground, it was subjected to
a negative gravitational load factor, which creates the feeling of being upside-down.
The passenger got scared and realized his seat straps were loose.
He immediately reached for something to hold onto, and accidentally pulled the ejector handle.
The man ejected the aircraft at about 2,500 feet from the ground while flying
at 320 miles per hour. He was surprisingly not injured by the sudden wind’s blast,
even as his helmet immediately flew off midair. Still, his parachute deployed successfully.
The ejection mechanism would usually send out both passengers if one were to pull the handle,
but strangely enough, the pilot did not eject the aircraft due to a mechanical malfunction.
He was then able to land the aircraft despite having lost the canopy,
and suffered minor injuries in the face.
As the 64-year-old man reached the ground in a field near the German border,
he also suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital for medical inspection.
The French government would issue a full report on the incident almost a year later.
It claimed that neither the pilot nor the passenger were made aware that the doctor
recommended not to subject the man to a negative load factor or the 3.7 g-force
generated by the take-off. Pulling the handle, then, was an involuntary reflex.
The investigation also concluded that the social pressure put open the man was partly to blame:
(QUOTE): "This situation generated a feeling of stress for the passenger,
which was particularly felt during the ejection seat briefing where
he had to absorb a large amount of information in a very short time."
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