64-year-old man accidentally hits eject button during fighter jet joyride

A 64-year-old man made an extremely bad panic decision while taking a joyride in a fighter jet after he pressed the eject button and flew out of the cockpit during a climb.

The man, who has not been named, was unhurt and landed in a field close to the France/Germany border. The story is a lesson in why you should never, ever pressure anyone into flying in a fighter jet, no matter how much you think they might enjoy it.

According to a report by CNN, the man was given the surprise flight as a gift from his coworkers, though he had expressed no previous desire to fly in a fighter jet — which seems like a necessary requisite to giving someone a fighter jet ride. Nonetheless, with his heart racing and clearly being terrified about the flight, he sat in the Rafale B jet and went for it. It’s here things went horribly wrong.

At 2,500 feet and about to start a climb, the panicked man reached for something to hold onto and happened to grab the Rafale B’s ejector button. The French fighter jet did as it was supposed to and deposited him in the air, thousands of feet off the ground — and the poor man did not do what he was supposed to. He hadn’t fastened his flight helmet properly, which got pulled off his head and crashed to the Earth.

Flight investigators called the accident an “unnecessary reflex,” which seems apt considering only someone with a death wish would voluntarily hit the ejector button on a fighter jet while flying in an otherwise safe flight.

The man was taken to a local hospital for observation following the incident. Investigators noted that his smart watch, which recorded his heart rate, showed the 64-year-old to be in tachycardia prior to the flight, with his heart rate ranging from 136-142 beats per minute.

When everyone gets back to work please remember this story. Do not, under any circumstances, give your elderly coworker an extreme sports present unless you are absolutely, 100 percent sure they want to do it.