at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-12/what-it-is-like-to-eject-from-f15-fighter-jet-iran-war/106534462
A [probable live test] at high altitude by ejection seat company Martin-Baker in a Meteor aircraft. (Press: Martin-Baker)
It is a live or die decision that no fighter pilot ever wants to make — and it needs to happen in milliseconds.
Pulling a jet's emergency ejection lever sets off a chain of unstoppable events.
In an instant, rocket motors under the seat ignite, blasting the crew into the air with up to 20 gs (gravitational force of Earth).
With his F-15 fighter jet plummeting towards the Atlantic Ocean at supersonic speeds [on April 18, 1995] it was retired US Air Force Captain Brian Udell's last resort.
"When I ejected, I got out with a third of a second to spare," he told the ABC.
"If I waited one-third of a second longer to pull the handle, I would have impacted the water still in my seat."
Brian Udell (right), while serving in the US Air Force in the 1990s. (Supplied)
Ejecting from a fighter jet is a decision air force personnel constantly prepare for.
They spend years training the body and mind to withstand and respond to immediate, violent trauma — and the ejection is only the start.
Early in the US war in Iran, six American aircrew safely ejected from three F-15E Strike Eagles that were mistakenly struck by Kuwaiti air defences.
More recently, when Iran shot down an F-15E jet, the two crew members were catapulted "deep inside enemy territory", US President Donald Trump said.
The jet's weapons systems officer, known as Dude 44 Bravo, was missing in Iran for nearly two days, scaling ridges to evade capture while "seriously wounded".
Wreckage is shown at what Iran's state TV is claiming as the site of a downed American aircraft. (Reuters: Social media via Sepahnews)
After experiencing one of the fastest known fighter jet ejections in history, Captain Udell describes what the aircrew could have gone through when they did the same in Iran a week ago.
And the "I am now an animal" mentality needed to survive.
The moment of ejection
Captain Udell was 31 years old when his jet malfunctioned during a training flight off the coast of North Carolina [on April 18] 1995].
He was travelling at about 3,000 metres with speeds pushing above 1,000 kilometres per hour when he gave the command to "bail out! bail out! bail out!"
The US Air Force testing an ejection for a new trainer jet in 2021. (US Air Force media)
"I distinctly remember pulling the handles," Captain Udell said.
"I remember a flash of light behind me that lit up the inside of the cockpit."
Within 0.15–0.2 seconds,the ejection handle triggers the jet's transparent canopy overhead to blow off.
Then a series of explosions shoots the seats along a rail, before a solid fuel rocket engine ignites, thrusting the crew into the air.
"There's a series of pyrotechnic sequencers that fire in rapid succession, and each one is greater than the next," Captain Udell said.
"It's designed to do this, because if the main catapult fired immediately, it would crush your spine."
Captain Udell was stationed at the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base at the time of the incident. (Supplied)
G-force spinal injuries
The crew are ejected moments apart, and launched upward to ensure enough altitude for a parachute to deploy safely.
Depending on the type of jet and scenario, pilots can be subjected to g-forces equal to 20 times the force of Earth's gravity.
When Captain Udell was catapulted from his jet, it was travelling about 1,260 km/h.
He experienced forces so strong, he said scientists and engineers came to the hospital asking, "We want to see the guy who's not supposed to be alive."
Captain Udell's weapons systems officer Dennis White did not survive the ejection.
US Air Force tests fighter jet ejection. (US Defense Department: Peter Ising)
Aaron Love, a retired US Air Force para-rescueman specifically trained to perform personnel recovery, said the intense acceleration placed extreme pressure on the spinal cord.
"It's a joke in the fighter community that an ejection makes you about three inches shorter," he told the ABC.
"There is huge spinal compression.
"There have been reports of pilots that had spinal compression that actually made them a little bit shorter."
Captain Udell broke both his legs during the violent ejection. (Supplied)
In terms of speed and force, Captain Udell said he was in a "much worse situation" than the US crew in Iran.
"When I ejected, I was supersonic. They were nowhere near that speed when they ejected," he said.
His mask ripped off, causing blood vessels in his face to burst.
"My head swelled to the size of a basketball, and my lips were puffed up like cucumbers," Captain Udell said.
He also experienced significant "flailing injuries", but they are less likely today with advances in ejection seat technology.
"That's where your arms and legs just fly out to the side and are exposed to the wind," Captain Udell said.
"Both legs were broken, my elbow was dislocated, and my shoulder was separated."
Captain Udell (right) in a photo taken in the 1990s before the incident. (Supplied)
In response to Captain Udell's incident, seats now have straps and webbing that automatically restrain a pilot's body into the safest position when the ejection lever is pulled.
Their limbs are tightly secured into a "cocoon bundle" until they slow down.
Seats today have about a 90 per cent success rate.
Preparing to hit the ground
The altitude and speed of the F-15 shot down in Iran is unknown.
Mr Trump said the crew member who spent 36 hours awaiting rescue was "injured quite badly" and had been bleeding "profusely" before he was found.
He reportedly scaled a 2,100-metre ridge and hid in mountainous terrain to evade Iranian forces.
If the ejection went as planned, sensors in the seat would have indicated when the pilot's freefall had stabilised.
And when an altitude with breathable air had been reached, the main parachute would automatically deploy before the seat separated from the pilot.
Air Force members are given extensive training to deal with the physical and emotional impacts of an emergency ejection. (US Air Force: Bradley Hicks)
John Conway, defence analyst and managing director of consultants Felix Defence, said each phase of the ejection process still required a human response to control the 'fight or flight' instincts.
"The desired human response is a product of years, if not decades, of preparation and training," he said.
"Having the ability to think under extreme pressure is an important part of aircrew training, which is improving by the day as we better understand the workings of the human brain."
US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft used in war in Iran. (US Air Force via Reuters)
A crucial moment is preparing to land after ejection, checking all equipment is in place and the body is in the right position.
The parachutes were not large enough to create a soft landing, so hitting the ground was the equivalent of jumping off a two-storey building, Mr Conway said.
"So you've got to be in a good posture for landing as well," he told the ABC.
"If you get that wrong, then you can break ankles and break your legs.
"And if you land in a mountainous, rocky area and you break your leg, then all of a sudden you've got a bleeding problem to deal with as well."
'Animal' survival mode
A survival kit drops with the pilot during a jet ejection, and a beacon sends signals to help rescuers home in on a location.
Captain Udell was determined to survive to get home to his wife, who was pregnant with their first child. (Supplied)
While waiting to be rescued, Captain Udell said one of the most important factors was having the will to survive.
He endured nearly five hours in the freezing ocean with life-threatening injuries before being rescued.
"You can only survive about three seconds if you don't have the will to survive," he said.
"In my case, my wife was four months pregnant with our first child.
"That was my will to live."
The two-seater F-15 fighter jet struck last weekend was the first American plane downed by enemy fire in the US war with Iran.
The pilot was the first to be rescued on April 3, within a few hours of being ejected into "hostile Iranian territory", US Air Force General Dan Caine said.
Dude 44 Bravo, the missing US airman, hid out in a mountain crevice, bleeding from injuries when he scaled a craggy mountain trying to evade capture.
Isolated behind enemy lines, Iran reportedly placed a $US60,000 ($85,000) bounty on his head for anyone who found him alive.
Black Hawk helicopters were used during the operation to rescue the US airman in Iran's southern Isfahan province. (Supplied: Lockheed Martin)
Captain Udell, who also worked as a survival instructor in the military, said the airman would have needed to go into a primal mindset.
"You have to have a mentality of 'I am now an animal, and I am going to be the stealthiest, quietest thing that ever lived'," he said.
"I'm going to stay off of roads, I'm going to stay off of trails, I'm going to go into the most nastiest, grossest places that a normal thinking person would never dream of going."
And the main motivator to evade capture was to avoid becoming a prisoner of war, which would be far worse.
"You have to plant in your mind that the worst day as a survivor is a thousand times better than your best day as a captive,"Captain Udell said.
US Air Force personnel are equipped with survival vests with water pouches, signalling devices and communication aids. (US Air Force: Erin Dunkleberger)
US special forces launched a high-stakes raid into Iran to rescue the injured airman, involving more than 170 aircraft and about 200 troops, Mr Trump said.
Mr Love, the retired para-rescueman, said many ejection rescues were "terrifying events".
And the conditions in Iran would have been some of the most dangerous rescuers had faced.
"Even the environment is trying to kill you," he said.
"Helicopters don't fly well when they're heavy or when they're hot, and Iran is both of those things.
"Everything about this mission really was the most dangerous that it could possibly be."
Aaron Love (right) was part of the elite special operations forces tasked with personnel recovery, and combat search and rescue. (Supplied)
More than 50 hours after being shot down, both of the F-15 crew members were back in friendly territory, according to the US military.
Captain Udell said even when rescue was imminent, you still needed to be "a survivor".
When he was being pulled from the ocean, he was still on high-alert.
"You don't stop surviving until you get to a hospital," he said.
"It was at that point, I laid back and shut my eyes and I just kind of relaxed and all that stress, all of that adrenaline, just washed away."
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Commenters, please limit your comments to a short paragraph = 5 lines. I'm not ungrateful - but can't write 2 or 3 short articles per week if I'm fielding essay length comments. Pete.