Martin-Baker, a British company that builds ejection seats for military planes, pushes out a social-media post every time one of its seats saves a life. I love that (thank you Doug!)

Then it contacts the ejectee and welcomes them to the tie club.

By Martin-Baker’s count, 7,827 lives have been saved by its seats since the first successful ejection in 1949.

One pilot has ejected four times, nine have ejected three times and 256 have ejected twice, according to Steve Roberts, a Martin-Baker executive. The four-timer was an Air Force F-4 reconnaissance officer.

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Collins Aerospace, another maker of ejection seats, started its own ejection fraternity in 1979. Called the Grasshopper Club, members get a plaque, patch, pin and a coin.

Collins’ seats have saved 730, including several Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle pilots and crew shot down this year in Iran.

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Ron Bath was flying his RF-4 Phantom military jet at nearly 700 miles an hour over the Nevada desert when it smashed into a bird, destroying one of the engines and part of the wing.

Bath managed to land at his base in Reno, but there was still a problem: He couldn’t steer or apply the brakes. As the plane slowed, it rolled off the side of the runway and into a ditch filled with rainwater.

The Phantom’s front landing gear collapsed, piercing the floorboard under the cockpit and rupturing the charge on his ejection seat.

“Next thing I know is I’m looking down at my airplane and it’s getting smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller, and I’m just shooting up into the sky,” said Bath. Seven seconds after he shot through the glass canopy, Bath smashed into the ground, breaking his back and neck.

this is 2.2 billion dollars worth of a crashed B2 bomber on the runway at Andersen Air Force Base in 2008, the pilot ejected, and that action broke his back, not uncommon

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/eject-tie-club-military-jet-collins-martin-baker-4c8496ab