The 64-year-old manager at a French defense manufacturer had no experience flying in a fighter jet, nor had he ever expressed any desire to do so. But when his colleagues surprised him with the gift of being a passenger in a military jet flight, he felt he couldn’t say no. They had obtained special ministerial approval. He didn’t want to be rude. But he was terrified.

一名就职于法国国防制造商的64岁男子从没坐过战斗机，也从没表达过这种想法。但他的同事们却给他带来了一份“惊喜”大礼——让他乘坐战斗机飞行。他不好意思拒绝。同事们费尽心思获得了国防部的特别许可，拒绝的话好像有点粗鲁。可是，他心里怕得不行。

The gift was sprung on him that very morning. He had just hours to mentally prepare himself. A doctor performed a medical examination, which should have taken place 10 days before, just four hours before takeoff. The man listened, stressed and confused, during a safety briefing when he was informed on how his ejector seat worked.

他是在飞行的当天早上才得知这个消息的，只有短短几小时用来心理建设。距离起飞只有4个小时了，一名医生给他做了检查（一般来说，检查需要提前十天前做）。随后，他接受了关于弹射座椅使用方法的安全培训，虽然一直听着，但他心里压力很紧张，很混乱。

His heart was racing as he entered the cockpit. His smartwatch recorded it beating 136–142 times a minute. He was so nervous he didn’t properly check his safety equipment. And then soon enough, they were taking off, piloted by a French veteran military pilot with more than 2,000 hours of flight time experience.

进入座舱时，他心跳飞快，智能手表显示他当时每分钟心跳136-142次。他太紧张了，都没能好好检查自己的安全设备。很快，他们起飞了，驾驶飞机的是一位有超过2000小时飞行经验的老军机飞行员。

As the pilot leveled off and the plane was subjected to a negative gravitational load factor, which can create the feeling of being upside down, the passenger reached for something to hold onto, but inadvertently grabbed the ejector handle. He was, of course, flung into the air.

随着飞机升高，重力负载效应让人产生了天旋地转的感觉。这名乘客慌乱中抓住了什么，没想到是弹射座椅把手。随后，他就被弹到了空中。

Somehow, he survived. The man’s parachute deployed and he landed in a field, sustaining minor injuries that required him to be taken to a hospital.

庆幸的是，他活下来了。他的降落伞及时打开了，他降落在一处田间，受了轻伤，送医院治疗。

Despite the jet normally ejecting both the passenger and pilot when one of them pulls the ejector handle, the mechanism failed and only the passenger went flying. This mean the pilot remained in the cockpit and was eventually able to safely land the plane back at the airbase.

正常来说，任何一方拉动弹射把手，乘客和飞行员都会被弹出。好在，这一机制这次失效了，只有乘客被弹射了。飞行员则得以将战斗机安全开回基地。

译者想说：

天哪，这也太坑爹了。这名乘客因为“社交压力”不好意思拒绝，就糊里糊涂上了战斗机，还意外被弹射出去了，真是惊心动魄的一次冒险。这些同事们真是好心办坏事。珍惜生命，敢于说不！

#惊不惊喜意不意外# #pocket channel#

声明：中文翻译仅代表本人个人观点，仅供参考。如有不妥之处，欢迎指正。转载请注明出处。

来源：https://alexpresents.com/2020/04/14/man-ejected-from-fighter-jet-after-colleagues-surprise-him-with-ride-along/