Video Former TOPGUN pilot breaks down Marine’s last-second ejection from F-18 Matthew "Whiz" Buckley, who flew combat missions in Iraq, told Fox News Digital what goes through a fighter pilot’s mind when ejecting from an aircraft traveling hundreds of miles per hour.
Former TOPGUN pilot Matthew "Whiz" Buckley told Fox News Digital that the recent crash of a Marine Corps F-18 in Washington state — and the pilot's split-second decision to eject — highlights both the violence of the maneuver and how the ensuing shock can leave an aviator feeling eerily calm.
On June 13, 2026, Marine Corps Maj. Jackson Simon emerged from a wooded area with a bloodied face and walked down the road toward a Yakima County sheriff’s deputy, whose bodycam captured the soldier appearing remarkably composed.
"I'm a little frazzled," was about as close as Simon came to expressing fear after his F-18 Hornet crashed into the forest and sparked a small wildfire near Rimrock Lake.
Buckley, who flew F-18 Hornets during his 15-year career in the U.S. Navy, said Simon was likely experiencing a combination of shock, an adrenaline letdown and the effects of training that teaches pilots to compartmentalize under pressure.
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Marine Maj. Simon Jackson holds a Yakima County Sheriff’s deputy's cellphone after calling his superiors to flatly tell them 'pilot ejected; pilot safe' and casually, 'hey buddy, Maj. Simon, I just crashed.' (Yakima County Sheriff’s Office bodycam footage)
"If anything's going wrong, we focus on the task. Everything else goes away," Buckley told Fox News Digital. "That was the most violent thing that ever happened to that Marine in his entire life."
Buckley served as a pilot in the Navy from 1991 to 2006 and said he was fortunate never to have ejected from an aircraft. The experience can have a devastating toll on the human body.
"Some folks don't go back to flying status. I mean, you can lose a couple inches in height. Your spine compresses. Some people get shorter," Buckley said.
A meta-analysis of more than a dozen studies looking at 1,710 military aircrew ejections found a pooled mortality rate of 10.5%, while 29.8% suffered major injuries. The studies were published between 1971 and 2019.
A photo of Matthew "Whiz" Buckley in the cockpit of an F-18 Hornet. Buckley flew as a pilot in the U.S. Navy from 1991 to 2006. (Courtesy of Matthew Buckley)
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"When you pull that handle, you have two choices: die or maybe live. And I said 'maybe live' because it's incredibly violent. I think the average ejection seat is like 10 to 20 G's of force," Buckley added. "Most folks don't even remember the ejection. They remember pulling the handle and then waking up in their parachute."
Buckley said the pilot's body positioning before the ejection is extremely important in preventing potentially life-threatening injuries. For example, if their arm is extended away from their body, the sudden wind blast could cause it to be "ripped out of the socket."
There's also a phenomenon called "seat slap," which occurs if the pilot does not have their legs flush with the seat prior to ejecting.
"If you look at an ejection seat in a fighter jet, it's rock hard. We're not sitting on a cushion," he said. "If your legs aren't flat on the seat, it could break both of your legs and now you bleed out and die."
A military photograph of an F-18 Hornet that was being piloted by Maj. Jackson Simon at Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, on June 5, 2024. (U.S. Marine Corps)
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In some instances, pilots who find themselves in trouble have time to slow their aircraft and perform a controlled ejection, which can reduce the forces involved, Buckley said.
Based on video of the crash, Simon’s plane was traveling at a high rate of speed before it struck the trees and exploded, likely leaving little opportunity for a controlled ejection.
Simon had been performing low-flying maneuvers while spectators on the ground watched, according to KIRO 7. After that, his plane reportedly clipped some power lines, which led to it going down.
The Marine Corps has not publicly confirmed that Simon’s F-18 struck power lines before the crash and has said the cause of the mishap remains under investigation.
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According to Buckley, this "clearly" wasn't supposed to happen.
"We have minimum altitude restrictions. And there ain't no 500-foot trees, right? So I don't know what they were doing. It doesn't sound like from his initial statement that there was anything wrong with the airplane. So that's usually not a good sign," Buckley said.
Buckley then speculated about what may have been going through Simon’s mind before the crash.
"It looked like a beautiful day. People out on a lake. 'Hey, there's some people down there on the lake. Why don't we go show them what their tax money is [for]? You know, America.' I hope it wasn't something like that," he said.
A photo of Matthew Buckley on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade. (Courtesy of Matthew Buckley)
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Fox News Digital reached out to the third Marine Aircraft Wing, the West Coast-based Marine aviation unit to which Simon’s aircraft was assigned.
Buckley said Simon will likely go before a review board that will evaluate his actions surrounding the crash. At the conclusion of the process, the board can recommend what should happen to an aviator’s flight status.
If he's found to be at fault, Simon could lose his "wings" or he could be allowed to continue flying, just under what Buckley described as "double secret probation."
"I don't know what the board's gonna do, but it'll come out. It should because...this is a $60 to $65 million Hornet. We deserve to know what happened," he added.
James Cirrone is a writer on the Breaking/Trending News team at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to james.cirrone@fox.com.
