What is a good gift?

[George K]

A good gift is something that someone wants, but would not buy for themselves if they could.

This does not qualify: Man who never wanted to ride in fighter jet accidentally ejects himself

A man who was terrified by his retirement gift from co-workers — a ride in a fighter jet — grabbed the ejector handle in a panic and was launched through the skies 2,500 feet above the ground, says the official government report on the incident.
The ride on March 20, 2019, had been intended as a surprise gift to the 64-year-old man, who was leaving his job at a French defense contractor. His co-workers took him to the Saint-Dizier air base, 100 miles east of Paris, and announced he would be flying in a Dassault Rafale B.

The man had never expressed any desire to fly in a fighter jet and had no military aviation experience, said the report by investigators for France’s aviation safety agency.

Once he realized what his co-workers had arranged, he began to feel extremely stressed, the report said. A heart-monitor watch he was wearing recorded his heart rate at 140 beats per minute — “full tachycardia,” the investigators described it. A normal resting heartbeat is 60 to 100 beats per minute.

Still, “feeling social pressure,” the man got into the rear of the plane’s two seats, the report said. Safety checks were apparently lax, and he was allowed to adjust his own gear. His helmet and oxygen mask were unattached, his visor was up, and his seat straps were loose.

On takeoff, the pilot and passenger were subjected to 4 Gs. Leveling off around 2,500 feet, that dropped to negative 0.6 Gs, a feeling of weightlessness. At that point, said a translated version of the report, “the insufficiently strapped and totally surprised passenger” grabbed for the nearest handle — which turned out to activate the ejector seat.

[89th]

Hahaha that is AWESOME. You know, for us. Maybe not so much for him.

[Mik]

Yeah, not so much for him. But then he will have one helluva a story to tell.

[jon-nyc]

Tragedy + time = comedy.

[Jolly]

Good thing the guy wasn't hurt badly. Sometimes you can get hurt while ejecting...

[Aqua Letifer]

@Jolly I was thinking that too. My cousin was a fighter pilot. Broken bones are always possible.

[George K]

I used to work with a surgeon whose brother was a F-16 driver. He punched out once, said it's the scariest thing in the world, and it makes you think that dying was perhaps a better alternative.

[brenda]

At 64, he still bent to peer pressure? I'm rather surprised by that. At 16, yes, but at 64?

His coworkers didn't know him too well.

The good news is that at his next physical examination, when the doc orders a stress test, this guy can say, "Been there, done that, survived!"

[Axtremus]

Ride of a lifetime.

[Copper]

I believe the story, but it is hard to believe. Ejections usually come with good stories.

I worked with a guy who was blown out of a B-52 over Hanoi, he ended up in the Hilton with 2 broken legs, an amazing story of survival

I worked with another guy who ejected from an F-105 over the Moroccan desert and wiped out most of a small village. The Air Force rebuilt it, the village, not the jet.

[mark]

Crazy shit. I also wonder about his lack of fortitude as it applies to peer pressure.