This is going to end up being *really* expensive for someone…

64-year-old man accidentally ejected himself from a fighter jet at 2,500 feet

Short form: a French company boss who had never expressed any interest in such a thing was given a surprise gift of a flight in a Rafale fighter jet. He apparently freaked out and hit the “ejector seat button.” He was booted from the plane and landed under a parachute; the pilot safely landed the fighter.

The investigation seems to have found that the passenger is not at fault. I don’t know what the ejection system is like in a Rafale, but if it is a simple button (and it almost certainly isn’t), then it would seem to be a design flaw. Typically the ejection system requires a bit more effort than pushing a button. The ejector seat for the Rafale seems to be the Martin-Baker Mk16. The ejection system for that looks like it’s the yellow and black striped “loop” between the pilots legs… give that a good strong pull and out you go. Rather more involved than pushing a button… but for someone with minimal training and a heart in tachycardia, that would seem to be an obvious thing to grab onto and pull real hard.  Maybe they should disable ejection for passengers in such flights, I dunno.