Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > Aircrew Forums > Military Aviation
Reload this Page >

Luckiest Pilot alive?

Military Aviation A forum for the professionals who fly military hardware. Also for the backroom boys and girls who support the flying and maintain the equipment, and without whom nothing would ever leave the ground. All armies, navies and air forces of the world equally welcome here.

Luckiest Pilot alive?

Old 9th Dec 2020, 05:02
  #21 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: In a van down by the river
Posts: 706
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
The Canberra ejection at 20 feet AGL and somewhere in the region of 90 degrees of bank sticks in my mind, the crewman actually landed on his feet.

http://www.ejectionsite.com/nochute.htm

Last edited by Fonsini; 9th Dec 2020 at 05:37.
Fonsini is offline  
Old 9th Dec 2020, 07:27
  #22 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Northumberland
Age: 71
Posts: 121
Received 14 Likes on 6 Posts
Originally Posted by Fonsini
The Canberra ejection at 20 feet AGL and somewhere in the region of 90 degrees of bank sticks in my mind, the crewman actually landed on his feet.

http://www.ejectionsite.com/nochute.htm
The crewman was the first AEO to eject from an RAF aircraft.
Janda is online now  
Old 9th Dec 2020, 09:21
  #23 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 32,457
Received 2,591 Likes on 1,096 Posts
Hostie survived a 33,000 foot drop after the aircraft exploded.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38427411
NutLoose is offline  
Old 9th Dec 2020, 13:23
  #24 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Hoofddorp The Netherlands
Age: 70
Posts: 135
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Do not forget this guy:https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/blog/th...ible-alkemade/
spitfirek5054 is offline  
Old 9th Dec 2020, 15:09
  #25 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Lincs
Posts: 2,307
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Timelord
I cannot quote the details but there was a Red Arrows crash at Akrotiri a few years ago where each event in the damage sequence cancelled out the effect of the one before and the pilot survived against all the odds. Worth a read if anyone knows how to lay their hands on it.
Would it be the following? The summary at following link. Aircraft accident involving Royal Air Force Hawk T1 XX251, 21st March 1984.

http://www.ukserials.com/pdflosses/m...0321_xx251.pdf

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=55493
TEEEJ is offline  
Old 9th Dec 2020, 15:36
  #26 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: East Sussex
Posts: 493
Received 28 Likes on 10 Posts
Originally Posted by Clearedtoroll
I only recently heard about the lucky 1946 Northolt Dakota - almost looks faked (but isn’t)

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail...photo/79044077
I was told by a good friend who went from Silver City to BA through all the mergers and takeovers, that the pilots name was Johnson and that he was known thereafter as Rooftop Johnson.
WB627 is offline  
Old 9th Dec 2020, 19:02
  #27 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 1999
Location: UK
Posts: 601
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Did he claim it wasn't his fault? After all, the householder had left the landing light on...
BossEyed is offline  
Old 9th Dec 2020, 19:34
  #28 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Posts: 119
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Wasn’t there a nav [observer, looker, talking tacan?] who banged out of a Sea Vixen just before it hit the ground with lots of bank applied, possibly landing at Yeovilton? Hit the ground still in the seat and just slid along whilst the seat did it bits and pieces as advertised, survived. Perhaps a Dark Blue contributor could confirm or deny?
Audax is offline  
Old 10th Dec 2020, 18:58
  #29 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: Scotland
Posts: 129
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
FS Alkemade's story is told as the opening condensed article in a Readers Digest commemorative edition titled "The Best of 21 Years" and published in the UK in 1960. I know this because I read it (and every other story in the book) when I was about 7 or 8 years old. It was the very first story to inspire my interest in the RAF and I remember it to this day. Not least because when my dad passed away, I found the book in his bookshelf...and I have it with me now.

As the article describes he was lucky thrice. To survive the fall, to escape hypothermia, and to avoid being shot as a spy!

Possibly a bit contentious, but I'd have to add the Shoreham Hunter guy to this list...no idea how he walked away from that.
Richard Dangle is offline  
Old 11th Dec 2020, 10:33
  #30 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: UK
Posts: 343
Received 9 Likes on 6 Posts
Originally Posted by Audax
Wasn’t there a nav [observer, looker, talking tacan?] who banged out of a Sea Vixen just before it hit the ground with lots of bank applied, possibly landing at Yeovilton? Hit the ground still in the seat and just slid along whilst the seat did it bits and pieces as advertised, survived. Perhaps a Dark Blue contributor could confirm or deny?
That sounds a lot like my Dad's accident on 16 Feb '68, according to the report he slid along the ground for about 140' parting company with the seat fairly early on.
Bing is offline  
Old 11th Dec 2020, 15:22
  #31 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: London
Age: 67
Posts: 492
Likes: 0
Received 35 Likes on 12 Posts
There was a USAF Aggressor pilot the late 70's/early 80's who had apparently survived hitting the deck in his F5 having got the nose buried doing ACT in Germany. The story (as I was told it) was he had bottomed out in a valley but hit the up-slope. The aircraft broke up around him, the engines passed either side and he woke up still strapped in his seat with a few cuts and bruises plus a broken ankle. He then became teetotal and a born-again Church-goer, and who could blame him.
Fortissimo is offline  
Old 11th Dec 2020, 15:42
  #32 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Kammbronn
Posts: 2,121
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
Originally Posted by Richard Dangle
FS Alkemade's story is told as the opening condensed article in a Readers Digest commemorative edition titled "The Best of 21 Years" and published in the UK in 1960. I know this because I read it (and every other story in the book) when I was about 7 or 8 years old. It was the very first story to inspire my interest in the RAF and I remember it to this day. Not least because when my dad passed away, I found the book in his bookshelf...and I have it with me now.

As the article describes he was lucky thrice. To survive the fall, to escape hypothermia, and to avoid being shot as a spy!
More than thrice! https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/blog/th...ible-alkemade/
diginagain is offline  
Old 11th Dec 2020, 20:54
  #33 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: S W France
Age: 80
Posts: 261
Received 2 Likes on 1 Post
Some time after Ken Topaz had had his miraculous escape from death, I was in the next bed to him in Ely Hospital for a few, days undergoing a minor operation to remove some metalwork from my foot. Fortunately one of my girlfriends was a sister at the hospital, and was able to supply copious quantities of " Scottish Wine " to keep us amused.
As I remember it, we spent most of our lucid hours devising pornographic crossword clues and chatting up the nurses.
Tengah Type is offline  
Old 12th Dec 2020, 15:45
  #34 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Norfolk
Posts: 409
Received 26 Likes on 15 Posts
IIRC, a 100 Squadron Canberra crew of 3 had a miraculous escape when the aircraft cartwheeled on the ground following an engine surge during a low overshoot.....
57mm is offline  
Old 12th Dec 2020, 16:01
  #35 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: London
Posts: 211
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Originally Posted by Bagheera S
In 1982 a Hawk at Bedford was undertaking wake turbulence research when it experienced an uncommanded and very low roll;- 20ft. The pilot went out just fractional within the seat survival envelope, while the observer decided to stay in. The aircraft landed upside down and slid 1200ft down the runway. As the structure deformed and was worn away, the observer head was progressively held against the runway. The wreck came to a holt just as the Asphalt was wearing through the fabric next to the chaps scalp.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/55500
They were not "undertaking wake turbulence research", I think that was a new task afterwards as it had not been a recognised issue beforehand. The observer (a navigator, initials BM) did not "decide to stay in" - he had a large camera on his lap and so could not eject. In fact, however, he was effectively uninjured whilst the ejected pilot suffered serious injuries as I recall, as he went out sideways.
possel is offline  
Old 12th Dec 2020, 16:15
  #36 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: South East of Penge
Age: 74
Posts: 1,788
Received 7 Likes on 7 Posts
"The observer (a navigator, initials BM) did not "decide to stay in"
Also this individual had previously lost an eye in a Canberra bird strike ,,,.
Haraka is offline  
Old 13th Dec 2020, 05:43
  #37 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: South East of Penge
Age: 74
Posts: 1,788
Received 7 Likes on 7 Posts
I remember being told years ago about a supersonic ejection from a Mirage in Australia. The battered pilot landed by a road , along which came a bus which stopped and the occupants came over.
Doctors on their way to a medical convention,,,,,
Now whether you consider that is good luck or not is a moot point.!
Haraka is offline  
Old 13th Dec 2020, 06:27
  #38 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Washington
Age: 87
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Luckiest Pilots

First time poster - Here's two 'luckiest pilot' stories that are too long to fully tell here, but look up 'Bill Parks - Lockheed Aircraft', and Bill Weaver - again, Lockheed Aircraft.

Parks and Weaver both have the shared distinction of having left a 'Blackbird' as it broke up around them while flying at design speed and altitude. Weaver was pitched out of his airplane as it broke totally apart; Parks either ejected from his or was also 'thrown out'. Both magically survived to fly again. (Sadly, in each of these Blackbird accidents, both back seaters were lost.)

In his Lockheed career, Bill Parks made a total of four 'nylon let-downs', and died in 1996 at the age of 70.
waflyer is offline  
Old 14th Dec 2020, 13:58
  #39 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: virginia, USA
Age: 56
Posts: 1,060
Received 15 Likes on 10 Posts
Originally Posted by waflyer

In his Lockheed career, Bill Parks made a total of four 'nylon let-downs', and died in 1996 at the age of 70.
I have wondered if Bill Parks has the highest number of actual emergency ejections with 4? (F-104, A-12, M-21 and Have Blue). I know there are several who made more test/trial ejections, but what about actual emergency ejections? I believe there are several USN F-8 Crusader pilots with three ejections. A few Germans crews in WWII? Soviet? Others with 3, 4 or more?
sandiego89 is offline  
Old 14th Dec 2020, 14:41
  #40 (permalink)  
Green Flash
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Didn't one of the Langworthy ('Bangworthy') brothers have at least 3 Martin Baker experiences?
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.