[wmij]

I was at an Air Show at the old Willow Grove NAS in Pennsylvania when I was a kid and there was a Navy S3 Viking Jet set as a ground display. They were allowing people time where you could get into the cockpit. A 7 year old kid was in one of the front seats and activated the ejection mechanism and was killed after being ejected and landing on the nearby tarmac.

As I remember, the other people in the plane at the time were injured due to burns and other debris but survived. We were about 150 feet away from the planes on display and I remember hearing how loud and sudden the explosion was. Not sure what happened my Dad said looks like an ejection seat just went off.

I sometimes think back to that day and always do whenever I hear about or come across stories ejecting from an aircraft and how terrifying it must have been to that kid.

[pm90]

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19800707&id=...

[PhasmaFelis]

Thanks for that.

It's weird, I haven't been able to find any other information about it. It's not even listed in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_air_show_accidents_and....

[PhasmaFelis]

Jesus. I wonder how that was allowed to happen.

I was gonna ask how to other people in the plane avoided being ejected and dropped too, but apparently the Viking was set up so the rear seats could eject independently of the front seats; this was so the plane could be recovered if the rear crew ejected in a situation that the pilots, with their greater awareness and control, felt was still survivable. If either of the pilots pulled the ejection handle, though, all four seats would be ejected. I guess there were two people in the front, and the kid was alone in the back.

So I guess it could have been worse. I hesitate to use the word "lucky," though...