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by dboreham 29 days ago
Ejection is often a career-ending event, unfortunately. Better than dying though.
3 comments

You're generally limited to two ejections barring any disqualifying health issues. The military doesn't like to throw away its personnel investments when they've gained some hard won experience.
Needless to say, crashing jets at an air show is not going to help anyone’s career.
To my eye, only the pilot of the rearmost plane is in trouble. The one in front was (more or less) flying straight ahead.

It’ll be interesting to see the official findings.

Agreed. It only takes one of them to have an issue or be out of position. Like you say, it’ll be interesting to see what they come back with after a thorough investigation.
How so, because of the damage to the body?
They impart significant g forces (~15g) in line with the spine. Compression fractures are common, and most people permanently lose height as a result of the event. The goal is to provide a result better than death.