The gifts that Martin-Baker will give to the pilot of the Spanish EF-18 that crashed in Zaragoza

@DefAviation ES 5·22·2023 · 21:30 0

Suffering a plane crash and being saved in the last second of the flight is an experience that few human beings have lived.

An EF-18 of the 15th Wing of the Spanish Air Force crashes during an exhibition in Zaragoza
The impressive aerial exhibition of a Spanish EF-18M fighter explained by its pilot

Judging by the images of the accident, and pending the official report, the plane could have suffered an engine problem and the Spanish pilot would have tried to avoid its fall, ejecting little by little a few moments after the plane crashed. crash. This was possibly the cause of the injuries sustained by the pilot, as well said aerospace engineer Sergio Hidalgo on the day of the accident. Let's remember that he is a Captain with more than 1,000 flight hours in the EF-18, that is, a very experienced pilot. Having waited until the last moment and having prevented the plane from causing any misfortune by falling is highly commendable.

The device that managed to save the Spanish pilot is a Martin-Baker SJU-9/A ejection seat, the model used by the Spanish EF-18Ms. Today, the British company that manufactures these seats celebrated the fact that the Spanish pilot is the 7,694th aviator to be saved thanks to an ejection seat from that company:

As you recalled Flightline Weekly two years ago, Martin-Baker ejection seats have been saving lives for 66 years. The first pilot to be saved thanks to one of those seats was Anthony L. Cook, a British RAF aviator who ejected in January 1957 over Rhodesia. The first female pilot to be saved by these seats was Linda Heid Maloney, who ejected from an EA-6A Prowler in 1991. Martin-Baker has already distributed more than 70,000 ejection seats to 93 air forces.

In addition to providing those seats, Martin-Baker has a club of pilots who have saved their lives thanks to these devices , the Ejection Tie Club. Every time a seat from this British company manages to save an aviator's life, Martin-Baker presents him with a commemorative patch, badge and tie that includes the inverted red triangle that is painted on the aircraft fuselages, indicating the position of the ejection seats.

I wish the pilot who suffered an accident last Saturday a speedy recovery, and that he can fly again soon.

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Main photo: Cheng Peng.