Not your normal fli...
 

Not your normal flight.

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You know when you board a plane, get in to your seat and wait to ignore the safety briefing? Well this time I paid a bit more attention, as this was the seat I would be sitting in.

https://flic.kr/p/2qYAnuh

A Martin Baker ejector seat, complete with all mod cons like a multi point harness, parachute, survival kit etc. Oh, and live explosives, capable of firing you out of where you were sat with a 25G kick (though, not that one). Use it right and it could save your life, use it wrong and there are many ways in which it, or the situation you find yourself in, could kill you. Focusses the mind somewhat, that, but after a couple of hours briefing and practice, I was allowed to use it for realsies.

 

A very quick guide on what to do if the pilot yells 'Eject, Eject'

 

1. Hands together, feet out, head back & close eyes., Pull the handle between your legs. .5 second later you will be fired out of the cockpit. DO NOT LOOK DOWN, as the weight of you head at 25G WILL break your neck.

2. if 1. doesn't work, pull again whilst continuing to NOT LOOK DOWN

3. if 2. doesn't work, use both hands to pull the handle above you head down to your chest

4. if 3. doesn't work, grab small lever to release you from chair, but not parachute, climb out of the (hopefully) open (but very cosy) cockpit and jump out, remembering to pull the ripcord of your parachute ASAP upon leaving the aircraft.

 

All this whilst the plane you are in is crashing, I pretty much decided if step 3 didn't work, I've had a good life...

 

i wasn't particularly nervous prior to the briefing, but having been told everything that could go wrong, and what I'd have to do to save myself I was perhaps a little more apprehensive, though a chat with the pilot (ex RAF Jaguar, Red Arrows & instructor pilot) about our route & planned exercise calmed me down loads. The weather came good too, as despite the recent good weather, this was the first iffy day, the morning flight had to be cancelled (not an issue as the punter ws local, but i'd come down from Leeds, to North Weald, nr Epping, so wasn't keen to not fly)

 

So, after hearing all the ways I might be killed, and confirming I still wanted a go, here is what I would be having a go in.

https://flic.kr/p/2qYAnuN

It's a BAC Strikemaster, essentially an export strength version of the Jet Provost but with more power and more ground attack capabilities. First flown in 1967 but was current up until 2009. It has a Rolls Royce Viper Turbo-Jet Engine which makes 3500lbs of thrust, peddling it up to 450kts.

 

And here I am in it, note all the warnings re the bomb I'm sat on.

https://flic.kr/p/2qYBdrX

 

After 2 blokes eventually strapped me in (I'm right on the height limit of the ejector seat, at 6'1" but a long body and as I said, the cabin isn't what you would call spacious), the ejector seat was armed and off we went. Obvs a jet engine is loud, but very smooth and we trundled out to the runway. take off was remarkably uneventful, run the engine up a bit, release the brake and off we go, nose up at 80kts, take off at 100, and off we went. Again struck by how smooth it was, I've had much rougher airliner takeoffs.

 

Have a look for yourselves, point of note are

2:56 - engine start,

5:00 - Moving off,

9:46 - GO BABY GO!

https://youtu.be/TAz9BsuN4c4

 

After takeoff we headed toward the coast, never more then 1500ft above sea level, due to Stansted airspace above that, again super smooth, no turbulence to speak of, all very serene, despite tooling along at 300mph. There's very little sense of speed, as engine engine is at about 60%, until you look down and notice just how much faster you are going than the cars on the motorway just below, or plow into a cloud. After a few mins, pilot comes on the radio, 'Would you like control?' ABSOFUGGINLUTELY 'Yeah please!' So I fly for a couple of turns, and it is so responsive, you just have to think which way you want to go, and the slightest moment of the control column, the plane responds. 'How about an aileron (barrel) roll?' 'Oh, Ok then...' so stick hard to the left and we spin round, I look up at the ground, and in a couple of seconds, we are back to wings level.

 

'Now you?'

'Eh? What? Me?'

'Yeah!, You'll be fine, just pull the stick fully to the left' 

And that kids, is the story of how I barrel rolled a jet.

 

You would think that would be enough excitement for one day but no, then we got on to G turns, first 2G, were it's difficult to lift your arms, as they are twice the weight as normal, then a 3G turn, were it's REALLY difficult to lift your arms (3x weight, and you notice that the extra 200kg pushing down on you is really there...). After that we do a victory roll were we start to climb at 40+ degrees, then a wide arching roll, at at 2-3G, then back down again. This may be one of my life regrets, but I turned down the option for a go as I was starting to feel my lunch at this point, which required some concentration, but didn't let the pilot know, though I suspect he could tell from my now heavier breathing.

'Shall we try a 4G turn?'

'Umm, be rude not to!'

'OK, so when I say, you'll need to tense all your muscles to avoid grey or black out (your blood weighs a lot at 4G, so sinks away from your eyes and brain, tensing keeps it mostly where it should be)

'Righto'

We bank right over, pilot yanks back on the stick and calmly says 'aaand squeeze' and there is truly no feeling like it, you are completely pinned to your seat, with 300kg of force, you can hardly lift your head to look up/out but also tensing every muscle to stay awake/concious . It's incredibly violent, whilst also not at all, and totally addictive! Massive respect to the modern jet pilots, who pull up to 9G in Typhoons (they have help from G suits, but not as much as you'd think)

 

'How was that?'

*heavy breathing* 'Wow!'

'Want to do a loop?'

'Oh yes!'

 

Stick goes back and we point to the heavens, I'm squeezing for dear life, as we get the the top of the loop, the G drops off and I catch my breath, again looking up at the ground, before we go back down the other side, G builds back to 4, so again squeezing for dear life, this time looking directly at the ground. You'll be pleased to know we levelled off, and turned to go back to base.

 

so interesting bits...

 

start to 4:50, just flying around, pilot and I taking turns at steering and gaining/losing altitude

4:50 - Pilot barrel roll

5:16 - ME DOING A BARREL ROLL!

5:45 - 2G turn, note the trying to lift arms

5:58 - 3G turn, trying and failing to lift arms

6: 18 - Victory Roll

7:40 - First 4G turn

8:40 - Full loop, takes about 40s to complete, then we fly back to base

 

To note, the gauge in the middle of the windscreen is the G meter, if you llo closely or on a big screen, you'll see it measuring what we are doing.

https://youtu.be/gdVIbg2eB1o

 

once we get nearby, pilot explains he's gonna swoop in low (3G), fly down the runway at speed, then essentially do a handbrake turn (4+G) at the end, I'm essentially Goose at this point as Maverick buzzes the tower. This may be the coolest thing I've ver been involved in.

 

Start at 3:50, prior to that is just flying back to base, we come into land at 5:30.

https://youtu.be/6J5SWeQ8d9w

and here's what it looked like from the ground...

https://youtube.com/shorts/fPW0GpbFQ2E?feature=share

 

Here's a chap who has just had one of the best days of his life, pleased he neither threw up, nor had to jump out.

https://flic.kr/p/2qYBdso

 

My issue now is what next, the only step up is supersonic (secretly hoping someone will do the same as the above, but with an old Tornado.)

 

if anyone else is interested in doing this, it really is the best thing you can do with your clothes on and whilst it really isn't cheap, it truly is a one in a lifetime experience, this and a few other options, in longer flights, or formation/dog flight flying can be booked.

 

https://www.aerolegends.co.uk/experiences/fly-a-fighter-jet/

Over and out.

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 12:10 pm
scuttler, hot_fiat, cerrado-tu-ruido and 19 people reacted
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Wow. Sounds like you did really well....right up until

Over and out.

Over means i've finished my communication and I'm awaiting a reply

Out means i've finished my message and don't expect a reply.

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 12:18 pm
oceanskipper reacted
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That's wild, thanks for sharing.

There's an adage in skydiving, "those who do can't explain, those who don't can't understand."

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 12:21 pm
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For my part in bucket lists, I piloted this.

helicopter_r22.jpg

Helicopters are deeply weird.  It's a constant battle where if you increase something you have to decrease something else.  It's like the old 'rubbing your belly and patting your head' thing.  The rotors make you go both up and forwards which is mind-bending as to which function you actually want to change, and when you do change it you have to offset it either by the collector handle or the pedals controlling the tail rotor which counters torque.

I didn't take off but I got to land it.  I got the impression that this wasn't something afforded to every student, so I guess I did OK.

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 12:37 pm
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Any mention of ejector seats and Jet Provosts reminds me of this:

 

 

Might not help with any preflight nerves though.

 

 

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 12:46 pm
Topic starter
 

Yeah, the ‘focus on 2 things at once’ part of helicopters really puts me off, though I have been an up front passenger in one, on the way to my wedding 😎 

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 12:47 pm
Topic starter
 

Posted by: hedgehopper

Any mention of ejector seats and Jet Provosts reminds me of this:

 

 

Might not help with any preflight nerves though.

 

 

believe it or not, that incident was discussed, after I mentioned a Dassault exec accidentally ejecting himself in a panic…

 

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 12:54 pm
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The accident report is a bit of a long read but I love the understated language,

 

”The passenger was unhurt as he passed through the canopy but utterly perplexed by the sudden absence of anything around him.”

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 1:00 pm
pondo reacted
 Drac
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Oh man that looks so much fun 

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 1:52 pm
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I've got two mates (well, one and then his friend) who are pilots. One went from Uni and qualified to fly big commercial jets, the other worked a few jobs and then seeing the life his mate had, wanted a piece - then saw the time and cost and decided that qualifying to fly helicopters was an 'easier' option. He's freelance but does all sorts; glorified taxi driver, demo flights to rich people thinking of buying one, through to flying the police helicopter on contract.

So the two constantly bicker about which is best. My extremely unscientific / low population survey observation is that big commercial jets take you to nicer places; helicopter pilots push the envelope on 'half your age plus seven' on a regular basis.

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 2:01 pm
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Thanks I enjoyed reading that op

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 2:04 pm
tomhoward reacted
 jimw
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I’ve not been in a small jet, but your description takes me right back to an aerobatic experience that I had in a Pitts S2 over Wanaka in NZ. 40 minutes of being wrung out by a pilot who looked about 16 but was 22. He started with some gentle manoeuvres primarily to see if I was likely to throw up inside his plane and then like your experience went further into the g envelope. -2 to +4.5 was what he said was recorded on his meter, of which the -2 was by far the most uncomfortable. No ejection seat though…

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 3:26 pm
Topic starter
 

Can believe it, I really don’t do well with negative G either, not that there was all that much, but definitely felt it.

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 3:55 pm
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That's bloody brilliant - well-explained, I watched all three vids and the ground shot back to back. I'd LOVE to do that! 🙂 

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 5:37 pm
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Ace. Thanks for sharing 👍

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 5:51 pm
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Wow! What a fantastic experience!

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 7:53 pm
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Posted by: Tom Howard

My issue now is what next, the only step up is supersonic (secretly hoping someone will do the same as the above, but with an old Tornado.)

Oh that's right up there towards the top of my Lottery Win list... 😉

Great video, fantastic! 

When I was in the RAF Cadets at school it was still the days when they'd let you get away with stuff that now wouldn't be remotely acceptable. We did "mock dogfight" stuff in Chipmunks which obviously have nowhere close to the power and speed of a JP but were still fully aerobatic capable.

Barrel rolls were cool cos they're basically 1G manoeuvres so they're the first thing that gets taught.

 

Posted by: Tom Howard

A very quick guide on what to do if the pilot yells 'Eject, Eject'

We had to sit through the hilariously bad "Jump Jump" video

Scroll to about 13' in for the bit where he's told to jump out of the thing which - for the purposes of demonstration - is in straight and level flight rather than plummeting to earth in a terrifying dive.

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 8:33 pm
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Sounds incredible.

 
Posted : 19/04/2025 9:03 pm
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Posted by: Tom Howard

My issue now is what next, the only step up is supersonic (secretly hoping someone will do the same as the above, but with an old Tornado.)

Not in this country you won’t, unless you know someone who has access to an in-service trainer version of a current combat jet. CAA absolutely will not allow civvi flights of transonic jets! Sadly, because there’s several EE Lightning jets that are live and ready to fly, but just can’t. Imagine a full-throttle vertical climb from wheels up to maximum combat altitude in this: 

And all I can add to this, to the OP, is: lucky git! 😁👌🏻

 
Posted : 20/04/2025 12:36 am
pondo reacted
Topic starter
 

Yeah, but the was a time where the CAA wouldn’t let any ex military plane take paying passengers, so ever hopeful. The above has only been running for a couple of years, and I was the first flight this year. That being said, I’m not sure how keen I’d be to go in a lightning, given its reputation for going very fast, into the ground…

 

Failing that I’ll start sending begging emails to the RAF PR dept, see if I can’t blag a go in the back of a typhoon. If TV presenters can manage it…

 
Posted : 20/04/2025 11:30 am
pondo reacted
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That looks like an epic day out 😎

 

 
Posted : 20/04/2025 2:34 pm
Topic starter
 

Posted by: pondo

How deep are your pockets? 🙂 

 

https://www.trade-a-plane.com/search?make=MCDONNELL+DOUGLAS&model_group=NO+MODEL+GROUP&model=F-4+PHANTOM&listing_id=2315633&s-type=aircraft

 

That’s kinda my point. That’s a million dollars, plus needs another couple of million worth of work. Spitfires are £3-4million, plus any work to convert to 2 seats, plus maintenance costs, and there’s 10-12 of those flying regularly…

 

Maybe I should direct my begging emails to the CAA, off the back of a few years of provosts not  crashing…

 

 
Posted : 20/04/2025 2:59 pm
pondo reacted
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If you can go supersonic in a Spit, my hat is doffed... 🙂 

 
Posted : 20/04/2025 3:02 pm
Topic starter
 

I mean, I tried 😉

 

 

Point is, it can be done, I just need for someone (else) to think it can be done profitably. Interestingly, the costs of flying the spitfire vs the Jet are remarkably similar.

 

edit, seems that flights in Canada of a T33 (max speed 600mph) are a similar cost per min

 
Posted : 20/04/2025 3:11 pm
pondo reacted
Topic starter
 

A bit of googling suggests a company in Russia was doing high altitude flights in a MiG-29, which I suspect might now be off limits for me. That and they are currently taking bookings for summer 2023, so may not even be operating.

 
Posted : 20/04/2025 4:02 pm
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There used to be a place in South Africa called Thunder City which offered supersonic flights to the public including in a Lightning. 

Then one crashed at an airshow and an investigation revealed just how shaky their entire operation was and it all got closed down.

I remember reading about the Russian place, that sounded even more dodgy - like a sort of off-the-books way of funding their air force!

 
Posted : 20/04/2025 4:16 pm
pondo reacted
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Damn, I'm 6'4"... at least I won't have to start saving up!

I do enjoy flying generally, but liked my go flying a helicopter best (and a glider least, possibly because I barely fitted in it)

 
Posted : 20/04/2025 6:37 pm
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Incredible experience

fun fact: the kid in the Air Cadet training video is a mate of mine from my days in 1811 (Marlow) Sqn ATC, we volunteered him for filming, let's just say he wasn't the sharpest tool in the the shed. Forever immortalised by the MOD...

 
Posted : 25/04/2025 1:32 pm
crazy-legs reacted
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Oh Wow, Diddnt know this was available - Did a Spit from Biggin a week before the video above and had a blast but other than the nostalgia element - think id have preferred the Jet - Was going to do some more aerobatic flying for this years birthday (Propper fun and relatively cheap compared) but always wanted to fly a Jet !  https://www.ultimateaerobatics.co.uk/aerobatic-experience-flights-1 ....hummmmm 

 
Posted : 25/04/2025 1:56 pm
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Posted by: Tom Howard

Spitfires are £3-4million, plus any work to convert to 2 seats, plus maintenance costs,

There was a Spit flying around Chippenham yesterday, flew from Cotswold Airport…

One very, very lucky individual! They’d have been able to see my house from up there, and me in my back garden with my binoculars!

 
Posted : 26/04/2025 2:47 am
Topic starter
 

Maybe I should direct my begging emails to the CAA, off the back of a few years of provosts not  crashing…

Seems the Spitfire in the video above has rather thrown a spanner in that works. Was involved in a wheels up ‘landing’ in a field shortly after takeoff on Saturday. Pilot and passenger unhurt, but still, risky business. 

 
Posted : 06/05/2025 1:10 pm