F 104 Starfighter, Nellis AFB to Phoenix 2008

Low level and sky ripping video from back seat. Follow up to this video.. Prior to the flight I received about 15 minutes of how to eject from the jet in an emergency. The F104 and the U2, both designed by Kelley Johnson, share a system of stirrups your feet go into that pull your feet back in an ejection to prevent your knees from hitting the front instrument panel. Since we were flying low level chances of surviving an ejection are slim as these old systems need lots of altitude. So I did not wear the stirrups. I did years prior on another flight. Notice the explosive cord on the canopy. This would explode first in an ejection to break the Plexiglas then the small rocket motors you may get a brief glance at under the rear view mirrors blow the canopy off. Then the seat rockets out. You then have to push the seat away from you to manually deploy the parachute. So this is in your head when flying. But it is still worth it to fly in this Century Series supersonic machine of the dawn of supers