It might be hard to believe, but the accidental-self-ejection of a 64-year-old civilian from a French fighter jet during takeoff could have been worse.
According to aviation news outlet Aerotime, the recently-released final investigation report by the French investigation bureau for state aviation safety (BEA-E) into the March 2019 incident details exactly what caused a French defense manufacturer to accidentally shoot himself out of a Dassault Rafale B fighter jet.
According to the report, the civilian was surprised with the flight by four of his colleagues as a gift — a gift he didn't particularly want but felt that he couldn't refuse — and because of the "informal" nature of the flight, he didn't go through the typical medical procedures, which include "a medical visit to the Center for medical expertise of flight personnel (CEMPN), and the approval of the Ministry."
Instead, the civilian was checked out by a doctor a few hours before the flight and cleared, "under the condition that he would not be submitted to a negative load factor."
Only thing is, no one told that to the pilot. As a result, the man was "subjected...to a negative load factor of about -0.6G" when the jet was leveling off during takeoff, stressing him the hell out so much that, compounded with the "social pressure of his colleagues," he pulled the ejector handle and jettisoned himself from the aircraft.