Fighter Bomber on ejecting from an airplane, short story: It’s not fun!

💬 “Many believe that ejection is “no big deal”. If you eject, that’s it. You’ll be in a beautiful and clean car, in the caring hands of attractive nurses with a size 5 bust, in just half an hour.

In reality, ejection is a nightmare. In rare cases, after ejection, the pilot brushes off the dust and casually looks for a radio to communicate with the crew of the Search and Rescue team.

Off the top of my head, here are some things that can happen:

First of all, the ejection seat might simply not work at all. (Hello to the L-39 ejection seats.)

Secondly, the ejection seat may activate, but you could be flying too fast, too low, or at the wrong roll angle. And you won’t even have time to be scared.

Then, the restraints on your arms can break them. Your legs get twisted, the straps tighten around them, or the deflector malfunctions and the rushing airflow slams your face.

A classic scenario is a shattered face due to an improperly fastened oxygen mask. It can also break your nose. And the 20 G’s during ejection don’t exactly add to your health.

But if everything goes well, and you make it into the air, your chances don’t increase significantly.

At high altitudes, without a pressure suit, your blood will boil. Or the oxygen in your seat will run out (or fail to start), and you’ll fall asleep and never wake up.

You could land on rocks, houses, forests, oceans, and power lines, and die in countless other ways.

The scariest part is ejection over water. We don’t know how to rescue people on the water. Probably nobody does. If the water is warm, pilots put on flotation devices. These are two autonomous banana-shaped tubes inflated with CO2, which the pilot must attach to the seat in a specific way for them to activate automatically. In 99% of cases, pilots don’t bother with that, hoping they can activate them manually when needed. For example, I never attached them to my seat. It’s impossible to do it with broken arms, but who cares or stops to think about that?

When the water is cold, they wear a Cold Water Immersion Suit (CWIS). It provides a few extra hours of survival in cold seas.

Without flotation devices, an unconscious or injured pilot descending with a huge parachute is doomed. And then there’s stormy weather or rough waves, plus the cold, and the stress.

That’s why, when you see a pilot under the canopy of a parachute, without hesitation, rush to their aid. Don’t even doubt it, they need your help, and their life likely depends on you right now.

But still… It’s the best job in the world.”