Passenger blasted into sky after pulling on eject handle

A man was blasted into the sky from a plane after he accidentally pulled on the emergency eject handle during a joy flight in South Africa.

The man was sitting in a South African Air Force Pilatus PC-7 Mk II jet during a flight over Langebaanweg Air Force Base when he was believed to have accidentally pulled on the handle, South Africa's Times newspaper said.

Two rockets at the back of his seat activated, and the man was thrust through the plane's perspex canopy and high into the air, it said.

He then floated back down to earth on a parachute, which had opened automatically.

The incident most likely occurred during an acrobatics display, The Times said.

A retired air force pilot told the paper the ejection would have stunned the passenger.

"You get one almighty kick under the backside and then you're gone," he said.

He said the man was lucky to have survived uninjured.