Anyone who wonders what it’s like to eject probably won’t come much closer than a video making the social media rounds. The brief helmet cam clip glimpses the split second destiny changes that are part of the drill for jet jockeys and this one seems to take the time to reflect on that. The video apparently shows an SU-25 on a low level training run hitting a power line. The mishap reportedly occurred near Belogrod on the Ukraine border on June 22, 2022.

From the helmet cam, the plane is stable and really low before pitching up amid smoke and noise. There’s a glimpse of the canopy deploying and the plane crashing before the pilot hits the tilled and planted field below with a thud and a grunt an uncomfortably short time later. He takes a few moments to get his bearings before sitting up, surveying the scene and checking in by radio. 

Russ Niles
Russ Niles is Editor-in-Chief of AVweb. He has been a pilot for 30 years and joined AVweb 22 years ago. He and his wife Marni live in southern British Columbia where they also operate a small winery.

13 COMMENTS

    • If it says so on the Youtube it must be true…

      However it would be quite unusual for a SAM strike to cut the fin off with such a clean, straight line without apparently damaging anything else around it…

  1. Two questions:
    1) the response speed from hit to ejection seem amazing to me. I am no fighter pilot, but i suspect even a well trained pilot would take at least two seconds to assess. On the other hand vegetation seem to take the longest time.
    2) I assume the pilot had a radio on him, but nothing shows an activation. Yet he talks on it within less than a minute. Do those activate automatically?
    3) How long does it take a parachute to deploy? The pilot ejected and landed within seconds.

    Both of those questions make me think that the video is edited. Thus I think authenticity question also come to mind.

    • In answer to the third of ‘both’ your questions: Google “MIG-29 Crashes at Paris Air Show”. There are numerous videos available; this one:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi-U_JYXtr0

      has a great perspective of the pilot ejecting, at about the 17 second mark. Don’t be distracted by the canopy flying off to the left – watch the pilot tumblin off to the right.

      He not only survived; he was sore but flying the next day.

    • 1. It is an incredibly fast response, though I would imagine that when flying at a low level like that, one would be primed to eject at the first sign of any anomaly.
      2. Not sure what you mean by “activation.” Turning a radio on is very simple and the video doesn’t show the pilot’s hands anyway.
      3. I make it to be about 10 seconds from ejection to landing. That’s the same as the second test in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1cnvJO1TF8 (the first one was shorter but didn’t appear to be survivable…)

    • Really now? There is a distinct difference between bailing/jumping out and ejecting at low level. I will never have to eject since I’ll never fly an aircraft so equipped but I have heard from those who did that you’re trained pull the handle and brace, it’s nothing like bailing out of a burning Hurricane over Canterbury in 1940 or some piston powered experimental in an unrecoverable spin.

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