A had only seconds to react after their F-15E Strike Eagle was hit by enemy fire over Iran Friday. Both airmen ejected.
The escape from the aircraft â triggered in an instant â set off a high-risk rescue mission deep inside hostile territory, as U.S. forces raced to recover the crew before Iranian forces could reach them.
In those few seconds, the ejection seat transforms from a last-resort safety system into an explosive escape mechanism â launching the crew out of the aircraft and into open air before a parachute deploys.
That is the sequence the pilot and weapon systems officer aboard the F-15E over Iran would have experienced after their aircraft was struck Friday, forcing them to eject and triggering a high-risk rescue operation over the weekend. The incident â and the successful recovery of both airmen in recent days â offers a rare look at what happens in the split second a pilot ejects, and the extreme forces they endure to survive.Â
“Its a violent event,” Pete “Gunz” Gersten, a former F-16 pilot who flew special operations missions, told Fox News Digital.Â
The moment a pilot pulls the ejection handle, the sequence begins almost instantly.
The canopy disappears in a fraction of a second. The seat rockets upward, forcing the body through intense acceleration.
When a pilot pulls the ejection handle, they are subjected to forces ranging from 14G to 20G (14 times to 20 times the force of gravity), according to military experts. For a 200-pound airman, this means their body feels as if it suddenly weighs 4,000 pounds.
“Youre no longer a decision-maker,” Gersten said, describing what happens to pilots who eject. “Youre a participant, and youre on the ride.”
Within moments, the aircraft falls away behind them, while the crew is suspended in open air, waiting for the parachute to deploy.
That is the moment the two airmen over Iran would have faced after their aircraft was struck Friday, forcing them to eject and triggering a high-risk rescue operation over the weekend as U.S. forces worked to locate and recover them in hostile territory.
The successful recovery of both the pilot and the weapon systems officer in the F-15E in recent days underscored both the risks of operating in contested airspace and the importance of rapid rescue capabilities.
Pilots never actually practice a real ejection.
Instead, they train for an emergency they hope never happens, relying on repetition, simulation and memorized procedures to prepare for a moment that unfolds in seconds.
“Youre relying on muscle memory for something youve never actually done,” Gersten said.
That training begins before pilots ever take their first flight.
“When they start flying, before they even get in the cockpit, theyve been trained on how to get out of the aircraft in case something goes wrong,” Gersten said.
It starts in the classroom, where pilots learn how the ejection system works. From there, they move into simulators designed to replicate parts of the experience â without exposing them to the full force of a real escape.
In one system, the ejection seat is mounted on a rail and launched upward, giving pilots a partial sense of the acceleration they would feel in an actual emergency.
But the training doesnt stop once the seat “fires.”
Pilots are then strapped into harness systems that simulate a parachute descent, often using virtual reality to recreate the sensation of floating above the ground. There, they rehearse a strict sequence of actions â clearing their visor, checking their canopy, preparing their gear and steering toward a safe landing zone.
“Theres no checklist you can reference when youre hanging in a parachute,” Gersten said. “You actually have to memorize them.”
At the end of the simulation, trainees are dropped to the ground to practice the final âand often the most dangerous â phase: landing.
“You have to be prepare
