The man was reaching for something to steady himself during a mid-air manoeuvre when he pulled on the black and yellow emergency handle between his legs. As soon as it was activated, the ejection sequence activated two rockets attached to the back of his chair, shooting him through the perspex canopy.

The man, who has not been named, later floated back down to Earth on a parachute which opened automatically.  South African Air Force bosses scrambled a helicopter to pick up the passenger after the blunder near Langebaanweg airfield, 80 miles north of Cape Town.

The incident happened shortly after he took off for a joyride in the Pilatus PC-7 Mk II plane with an experienced pilot from South Africa's Silver Falcons air display team.

Experts said the man was lucky to escape unharmed following the bizarre incident.

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