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How many of you have ejected?

MIDNJAC said:
There is something alive in these things, even if that sounds ridiculous....
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Totally agree with that... the one I abandoned, huffed, puffed & chugged until safely 'feet wet' before the J-65 quit & I punched. Even at that, it refused to explode, trailing fire all the way to impact. She didn't want to die either.:(
VFW Poppy1.jpg
*My annual Remembrance Poppy Wreath for valiant "Busy Bee 604",
at VFW "Michael Monsoor" Post #2082, Lemon Grove, CA
BzB
 
I remember R1's amazing event.

Me? Seriously reached twice, but never pulled the D-handle.
On one, I - or especially my RO - should have punched us both (but we miraculously lucked out big time).

On the other I should not have ejected... because it would have been in the dirt, inverted.
 
An F-106 landed in a field after an ejection in Alaska. Maybe there's something to Midnjac's theory of self-aware jets.
 
My old man's friend jumped out of an AD (can't remember the reason in the story), which promptly began flying straight and slightly nose down. Ended up making a nice wheels up landing in the middle of nowhere, it was thrown on a truck and brought "home", and began flying again a couple months later. I think I recall him saying that the same bird got torn apart by AAA over S Vietnam a few years later according to said friend.
 
Renegade One said:
It was Friday the 13th (of course) of September at 2345 at night.

I had enough time for about three big "sculls" to my rear to clear the bow, and the bow wave action kept me from ever contacting the sides. I was picked up quickly,.....Both picked up uninjured; got new flight gear and completed quals two later. ......As the airplane is coming down the back side, it just rolls off slightly to the left and impacts the water off the port side. Sploosh!
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Luckiest unlucky Friday the 13th ever, I think.
 
jmcquate said:
An F-106 landed in a field after an ejection in Alaska. Maybe there's something to Midnjac's theory of self-aware jets.
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There is a T-45 where the guys ejected on take off, (From Acadiana IIRC) the jet went off the end of the runway, around the tacan, and found the only break in a deep drainage ditch to cross before it came to a rest. That airplane definitely wanted to live to fly another day.
 
Swanee said:
There is a T-45 where the guys ejected on take off, (From Acadiana IIRC) the jet went off the end of the runway, around the tacan, and found the only break in a deep drainage ditch to cross before it came to a rest. That airplane definitely wanted to live to fly another day.
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Sounds like a BI/RI dream jet......."Look, this jet is gonna fly the high tacan today with or without you in it.....your choice"
 
jmcquate said:
An F-106 landed in a field after an ejection in Alaska. Maybe there's something to Midnjac's theory of self-aware jets.
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It was Montana, they fixed her up and flew her until the USAF retired F-106's. She is is now at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

There was an E-2 that had to be shot down after the crew bailed because of an uncontrolled engine fire and it decided to keep flying, towards Syria I think. The account I remember reading long ago also mentioned that it took quite a few tries before the flighters, Hornets I believe, were actually able to shot it down with guns.
 
If relaying another's story is against the rules, I apologize. My father had to get out of an N2S in December 1943, just west of then Bunker Hill NAS, (now Grissom AFB). While teaching inverted spins to a stud, he saw the wires snap and the top wing (now on the bottom) start to buckle near the tank. He screamed "get out". Since they were negative at the time all it took was to let go of the buckle and they both went out. A few swings on the silk and he lands in an empty field and walks up to the farmer's house and borrows the phone. A short time later an ambulance pulls up with a Marine Major and an enlisted driver, while leaving the field the ambulance gets stuck, the Major drives while the enlisted driver and my father, an O3, pushes the ambulance out of the mud. A shot of brandy and he was on the schedule the next morning to fly. Later when the wreckage was recovered from its smoking hole, my dad cut out the section of fabric saying "NAVY" on the fuselage and kept it. The board found several other IP's had complained that Stearman had a heavy wing. The stud survived and continued in training. I still have my father's Caterpillar Club membership card, and the fabric section from the fuselage that says "NAVY".
 
We have a few folks here in Kingsville with ejections. One of them has 2 ejections with another IP with 1 and a sim instructor with 1 punch. I did the JAG on two of the three :confused: I know one pilot who just retired who is at CNATRA with 1 ejection. Quite a few it seems.
 
MIDNJAC said:
Good write up R1. Sounds like a pretty hairy night sir. It's funny how many stories you hear about jets that keep flying after an ejection, be it off the bow, or behind the ramp. I am convinced that they have souls (that don't want to die early deaths), in some way shape or form. Like how when you man up that jet that is just a basket case from the first motor coming online, and you swear at it (maybe even bang the glare shield out of annoyance).......and then it just treats you to an unending litany of other annoyances throughout the flight or maybe even shits a motor or something and really gets back at you. Contrast that with the days you really need a jet to be up, and you are real gentle with it, baby it in the line.....you do all the same stuff you did in the other jet, but just without the anger.....and then it comes up and flies like a champ the rest of the day. There is something alive in these things, even if that sounds ridiculous....

<--- turns in man card
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An everyday occurrence in the Papa Tre world. NOT the man card thing.. ;)
 
In my last squadron, at one point, we had 4 ejectees. One punched out of a flat spinning Tomcat in Fallon, one puched out of a Prowler that lost its brakes on deck during CQ while he was an ECMO stud, one punched out of a T-45 that experienced a nose wheel hard over on a landing and one got out of an A+ after he G-locked. Puched out at around 550 knots when he finally woke up. Scary stuff.
 
midhusker said:
In my last squadron, at one point, we had 4 ejectees...
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Ejections are not as rare as one would think. Most jet squadrons have at least one dude who has punched at one time or another. Seems contradictary to the fact that the Navy aircraft mishap rate has been steadily declining over the past half century. Back in the '50s, an AR of <3.00 p/10,000 hrs. for VF/VA was considered acceptable. Today probably more like <3.00 p/ 100,000 hrs. (acknowledging that an AR of 0.00 is the ultimate, unattainable goal for every unit)!

Having 4 aircrew ejectees in one unit (VT?), is unusual.:confused:

EDIT: "I tried to 'beat the seat', but the opening shock of the chute kept my hand from reaching the D-ring"! BzB
 
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