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Comment by dymk | Hacker News Reader

> Pilots hesitate to pull the ejection seat handle because “we know that we are condemning a multi-million dollar piece of equipment, paid for with taxpayers' money,” Matthew adds.

I wonder why planes as expensive as these don't have some sort of a remote-pilot feature that could kick in in case of emergencies like this - once the in-seat pilot has ejected, at least a best effort attempt at landing the plane could take place.

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Ejections usually happen after the aircraft becomes unflyable. Birdstrike is a common cause, see this example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2zB7Z-b6Kc

The jet ingests a bird shortly after takeoff, causing engine damage and shutdown. Pilots try to restart the engine, after unsuccessful attempts they point the aircraft towards the nearest open field and eject. There wasn't much else to do. At low altitude, low speed, and without engine power and a place to land, the jet was going to crash one way or another.

Not always, though!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornfield_Bomber

Poor pilot was likely gifted a new callsign after that one.

A “best effort attempt at landing” could land the plane in enemy territory though, essentially giving them a plane to study and reverse engineer.

Better to let the pilot survive and the plane be destroyed.

The idea is that ejection should only happen when there's no possibility of recovering. If it's still possible to attempt a landing then the pilot shouldn't eject.

I suspect that's why so many of the ejections in the article were at low altitudes.

I would assume the best effort attempt has already been made before ejection.

But then why would the pilot hesitate to eject? They likely want to eject before they blackout, which is why I can imagine there could be a small chance to save the plane at human-intolerable g-forces.

They hesitate because in a fast moving emergency you can never be sure whether you have done everything or not. You have to decide in a split second. I also don't think a lot of problems are because of high g forces. Most problems are probably because of stall or other misjudgments.

Looks like there is a lot of chances they made a mistake then, and so an autopilot landing might actually work.

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