A passenger believed to be conducting a familiarisation flight with the US Air National Guard accidentally ejected from a Boeing F-15D fighter jet while taxiing.
Video circulating on social media shows the aftermath of the incident, which appears to have taken place at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts – home to the USA’s 104th Fighter Wing.
A two-seat model F-15D can be seen rolling down a taxiway, notably missing its canopy. The front seat pilot is still at their station with an intact ejection seat still properly in place.
The camera pans rearward, showing what appears to be the rear-seat crew member, complete with flight helmet, crawling on the grass beside the tarmac near an object that is presumably the ejection seat.
The remnants of the F-15D’s cockpit canopy appear to have landed on the aircraft’s rear fuselage or left wing section, likely the result of the fighter’s low-speed when the ejection sequence was initiated.
The visible side of the jet’s twin tail bears the flash MA 85-134, consistent with markings of the Massachusetts-based 104th Fighter Wing.
Aircraft registration data for 85-0134 matches an F-15D registered to the US Air Force and based at Westfield-Barnes Regional airport. The twin-engined jet was built in 1987.
Although the reason for the ejection has not been officially confirmed, a Facebook gossip page devoted to US Air Force matters claims the back seat passenger was a member of non-flight personnel conducting a familiarisation flight.
Such flights are sometimes offered to ground personnel as a retention incentive.
Those details could not be officially confirmed by the Air National Guard.
An ejection from ground level at low- or zero-speed is a rare and dangerous manoeuvre known as a zero-zero ejection. The F-15’s Collins Aerospace ACES II ejection seat is rated for such ground-level escapes.
There are currently 6,000 ACES II seats in service with 29 air forces worldwide, according to Collins, including all Lockheed Martin F-16 and F-15 fighters globally.
Within the USAF, the ACES II is also in service with the Fairchild Republic A-10, Lockheed’s F-22 stealth fighter, the Boeing B-1B supersonic bomber, and the Northrop Grumman B-2 stealth bomber fleet.
