# Crash-landing jet: was ejection from the ground a good idea? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2022, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-landing-jet-was-ejection-from-the-ground-a-good-idea/976641 "2022-12-16T12:57:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 13
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-landing-jet-was-ejection-from-the-ground-a-good-idea/976641/13 "2022-12-17T14:20:16Z")
Hard to have a true FQ answer here. I do know that in the F-16 it was written procedure to eject on the ground if the airplane was about to run off the side of a runway into the dirt or grass or whatever. The risk of the airplane ending up upside down on fire with you in it was considered greater than the risk of ejecting. If the airplane happened to stop upright it could be repaired whether you’d ejected or not. FWIW, here’s a post in the General Aviation thread w an ensuring discussion about this accident including the pilot’s decision to eject: > [@The Great Ongoing Aviation Thread (general and other)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-general-aviation-thread/600499/3200): > > Not quite GA, but this jet still belonged to Lockheed, not to the military when this little oops took place. [[F-35B Crashes During Vertical Landing] ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOuJlphTnjw) IMO it’s pretty clear what happened: the forward lift fan drive failed about the time he touched down a bit hard. So suddenly the aft exhaust was still lifting ~50% of the weight but the front was unsupported except for the landing gear. The engine accelerated as the drag of the lift fan came away and now we’re off to the races up on o… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-landing-jet-was-ejection-from-the-ground-a-good-idea/976641)._