L1A2 it was up to the owner/operator to decide if he wanted to maintain the seat or inert it. Couple of things spring to mind - the bloke who "Fell out of " a JP out of North Weald when his brother (IIRC) turned the jet upside down for the first time after the seats had been serviced and refitted (oops). This in turn begs the question to the non-military trained individuals now flying bang seat equipped aircraft - how much egress/ejection and parachute descent drill training do you consider enough? Us mil and ex-mil folks were regularly exposed to dinghy drills (pool and sea), rapid egress practice, hanging harness, parachute descent drill etc etc. It all (thankfully) became second nature, do it in you sleep sort of thing.
Saying to yourself 'if the engine quits and I don't have a runway in gliding range I'm going to eject (and tell my pax to eject too! - how well prepared is he/she going to be?)' is a well and good but I can assure you its not a smooth ride and its not without its own risks.
Sticking with it and hitting the ground at at best 70mph is not a pleasant ride either, sitting on a UXB, no airbag. Think of what a high speed motorway car crash looks like.
Jim Griff - time to post your link here again!!
Fly safe
Tarnished