Yesterday, at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Massachusetts, a back-seat passenger ejected from an F-15 as it taxied out for takeoff. The passenger, a non-pilot recruiting officer, was receiving an incentive flight in one of the 104th Fighter Wing’s two-seat F-15D models. This appears to be the only video of the incident, and includes radio transmissions between Rambo 01, the incident aircraft, and ground controllers.
Video and ATC from yesterday. The backseater of RAMBO 01 (F-15D 104th FW Massachusetts ANG) accidentally ejected while taxiing back after a alleged incentive flight at Westfield-Barnes Airport, MA
The backseater survived and the runway was shut down. You can see the cockpit… pic.twitter.com/9ZIAV9ENPl
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) August 14, 2025
Although the video doesn’t show the actual ground ejection, it does show some fascinating detail. You can see the ejected passenger, who is sitting up and starting to move around, in the infield grass alongside the taxiway. The ejection seat and what appears to be the parachute are nearby. The canopy, which separated during the ejection, has come to rest atop the F-15’s left wing. You can even see lingering smoke from the rocket-powered seat coming from the now-empty rear cockpit. I don’t know who to credit for the video, but Tyler Rogoway, reporting for The War Zone, reports that the passenger survived the ground ejection. The extent of his or her injuries, if any, is unknown.
The F-15 Eagle is a single-seat fighter, but two-seat versions exist and every unit has a couple of “family models” on hand. They can be used for training and check rides, but also for incentive flights and VIP ride-alongs. Fully capable of everything single-seaters can do, they can also be flown with the rear seat empty — and often are.
During my time flying the F-15 Eagle, maybe 10% of my flights were at the controls of two-seaters. Most often there was another F-15 pilot in the back seat, along for additional training or just for the flying time, but I’ve given a number of incentive flights to non-pilot airmen as well, 20 or so over the course of my career.
When a non-pilot or outside VIP is selected for a ride in an F-15 (or an F-16, currently the only other USAF fighter with both single- and two-seat versions), one of the things we make sure they get is instruction in the ejection seat, ejection procedures, and what to do once they’re clear of the aircraft and in the parachute. Presumably the passenger at Barnes had such training.
Modern fighters have zero-zero ejection seats, meaning a pilot can expect to survive a ground ejection (zero altitude/zero speed). In the two-seat D model, you can select command ejection, meaning that if either crew member ejects, the other crewmember is automatically ejected as well (front seat first, followed a split-second later by the rear seat) — this is the position you select if your back-seater is a fellow pilot or weapons system officer. If you’re taking an inexperienced non-pilot up for a ride, you select the position that automatically ejects him or her in the event you eject — but if the back-seater accidentally ejects, he or she goes alone and you stay with the aircraft, as happened in yesterday’s incident.
Have incentive flight passengers ejected themselves before? Yes they have, most recently in France, an incident I mentioned on this blog a few years back. What happened to my brother F-15 pilot yesterday is every incentive ride pilot’s nightmare, and you know there’ll be a merciless investigation into every aspect of this incident, focusing on the passenger’s training — including whatever last-minute plane-side instruction Rambo 01’s pilot gave his ride-along immediately before their scheduled flight.
Well, at least the deserving recruiting officer got a flight. Too bad it was such a short one!
Paul, If I ever had a chance at a two seat ride (which ain’t gonna happen), I’d want you to be the pilot.
Thanks for the air-minded review.