RAAF F18 ejection QLD
 

Apparent ejection before rotation. Appears successful.
No doubt more to follow.

Video, and news initial report here.

https://7news.com.au/news/accidents/...rley-c-1730017

Whoops - meant to pull the other lever! Glad all seems OK though...

Quite the struggle to restrain the Monday morning quarter back within on this one. Good to see old mate is safe.

Looks like they'll still be able to use the jet - good result all round, glad they're safe (as "Defence officials" are saying)

Anyone know the reason they punched out?

Surely it was SOP's that dictated a punch out?

Social distancing ?

From the chute spacing it looks like a command ejection.

Maybe after the EA-18 incident, they were told to punch out at first sign of any issues?

Hell of a way to get a free tie.

well done.

The jet looks in good condition, except for the scorch marks around the cockpit. Should be able to turn it into useful parts. Makes me wonder if they had stayed for the ride instead of ejecting it wouldn't have made the 6pm news.

If they're quick, they can slip it into an Antonov and flog it to the Canucks.

Different situation from the F-111 ejection in NZ some years ago, flameout of the A/B, not enough wet runway to stop.

Amberley is a ferkin long runway with arrestor cables and an arrestor barrier as a long-stop. What was so bad that required ejection, but didn't destroy the aircraft?

Pop the seats back in, touch up the scorched paint, slip it in amongst the others, they will never notice. Unless they read Proon.

Ha Ha.......love it.....!!!!!

You bloody beaudy, Bremont watch time.

Gees those chutes hit the deck hard......

Upon initiating ejection, is it standard in fast jets for engine to be automatically shut down?

Any other systems automatically engaged?

mjb

Well done all, all are well - could of gone SO wrong . One of my favourite ejection stories , is this ;
https://hushkit.net/2020/10/13/66-ye...ed-underwater/
I think my late father was involved in this somehow , back in the day he was a RN Officer at Ford and at Malta
and in/around the Med. (HMS Albion) around this time, knew Prince Philip.
Happy outcome, happy memories on this SAD day - Chuck Yeager = Legend RIP.

I'd have thought it would be repairable...but I haven't seen any decent images.

Really pill?
...such a struggle?

One report stated that there was a fire in the cockpit. It would explain the soot marks and why they decided to eject. Sounds like a good call.

Rocket seats are likely to make soot marks. Those marks recede at about 45 degrees much in line with the rocket flame trajectory. There was no fire showing in the video of the jet rolling down the runway after ejection. However, smoke in the cockpit is a possibility, which if it came from the engines, might have then disappeared once the engines were cut around ejection time. I know of two fatal ejections on takeoff when aircon heavy mist was mistaken for smoke but that's highly unlikely these days. Basically, if you are rolling significantly and you cant see you have to eject, especially given the reliability of today's seats as demonstrated in this case.

If I ejected on the runway I think I’d want the jet to explode spectacularly at the end of the runway, not amble off at a brisk walking pace. :p

Well done to the crew, that’s a big D to make.

Let's hope they were in that "D" together... :}

Yes, good point...

Nothing worse than premature ejection!😱

Happens to all men at some stage in their life.

Dog

How about this for a scenario.......Its a training flight smoke in the cockpit early in the take off Instructor commands “Reject Reject “ student hears “Eject Eject “ and the rest is history Red faces all around Just Sayin !

That's why we always said - "Abort, Abort, Abort" - not "Reject"...

I thought that scenario was part of a story (myth?) of a fast jet guy converting to B-52s in the 1970’s. Captain said “reject”, he heard “eject” and the downward-firing seat provided the sting in the tale.

Word on the RAAF Grapvine is that the aircraft suffered a total nosewheel steering failure at takeoff speeds.

Heard a tale once of a commercial flight just about to cross the fence and touch down. The Capt looked across to the FO and by the sad look on the FO's face reckoned the FO was having a very bad day. Thinking to make the FO happier the Capt said "cheer up" at which point the FO reached forward and retracted the undercarriage ! Of course I don't believe a word of it :-)

So if you are at take off speed, why not take off?

Watching the video, it doesn’t seem like they reached take off speed. The abandoned aircraft just ambled across the grass and came to a stop in a ditch... intact sans canopy and crew!

I assume this was an Alpha departure 04 then?

Would have to have been SOP related somewhat. Pull out at 150m in, still 500m to run. Certainly very little time from rolling until the call was made, looks like the best part of a few seconds.

I doubt that the CAF would have grounded the entire F18 fleet if it was a pilot f.ck up - and they'd have known that pretty quick off the mark I should have thought.

Although close an ejection is not part of my CV. But I have a number of friends that have the tie and each and everyone watching the aircraft disappear from under the canopy have thought, “ I really hope that was that was the right D” or something very similar.

At least the canopy separated this time, lesson learnt from Goose's mishap.

Ah, but Goose was in an F-14. He needed speed.