Do jet ejections hurt?

The turbulent process of ejecting puts pilots at serious risk of injury. Once those rockets fire under the seat, they blow a person up and out of the cockpit with enough force to seriously bruise both shoulders on the harness straps and possibly break collarbones.



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Despite the technology's progression over the decades, you're basically sitting on a small chair that has been rocket-propelled out of a malfunctioning aircraft, a parachute opens, you and the seat part company, and you land—hard. Legs may get broken, vertebrae may be compressed.

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There's no fixed number – each individual is unique, as is the ejection that they endure. After ejection, a pilot will be given a full medical evaluation and it is down to that medical professional to advise whether it is recommended that the pilot continues to fly or not.

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If the pilot needs to warn you that you're going to have to eject in the near future, he will use the word “eject,” as in, “Hey, get ready, we are going to have to eject in about 30 seconds.” If things go horribly wrong and you need to blow out of the ship immediately, the command is, “bailout! bailout! bailout!”

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According to the convention of Geneva an ejected pilot in the air is not a combatant and therefore attacking him is a war crime.

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In our evaluation we found that ejection seat evacuation is associated with a relatively high incidence of spinal injuries. Overall, 56.3% of aircrew members in our evaluation had some form of spine injuries, such as a contusion. In total, 33.0% even experienced a spine fracture.

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Not true. I flew with a pilot that had ejected three times. Weirdly, I was with him (in another A-7) on two of those occasions. All three ejections occurred at slow speeds.

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The Air Force Safety Center carefully tracks how often pilots pass out, and in the last fiscal year—from October 1, 2018 to September, 30, 2019—there were 12 incidents, a small increase from past years. The 10-year average, according to the Safety Center, is about seven GLOC incidents per year.

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Losing Interest or Motivation. Many people have an interest in learning to fly, but when they begin the process and realize how much is involved, they may lose interest or decide flight training is not what they expected. These reactions are perfectly normal, as flying your own plane is not for everyone.

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Pilots with a fear of heights aren't uncommon and in fact, the majority of people who are afraid of heights aren't affected by flying in an aircraft. There is a strong feeling of security when you close the door, and you should feel very comfortable in the hands of an experienced instructor.

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Women pilots were also formerly called aviatrices (singular aviatrix). Women have been flying powered aircraft since 1908; prior to 1970, however, most were restricted to working privately or in support roles in the aviation industry.

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The highest altitude a plane can fly is largely determined by the type of aircraft, as well as the atmospheric conditions at the time. Commercial airliners typically fly at altitudes between 30,000 and 40,000 feet, but some experimental aircraft have been known to reach flight levels as high as 65,000 feet.

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