Matthew "Whiz" Buckley

“If you look at an ejection seat in a fighter jet, it's rock hard. We're not sitting on a cushion,”

Matthew "Whiz" Buckley · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-25

Buckley explained the rigidity of ejection seats when describing the importance of proper body positioning before ejection.

“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,”

Matthew "Whiz" Buckley · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-25

Buckley said the crash clearly was not supposed to happen and questioned why the aircraft was flying low enough to strike trees.

“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,”

Matthew "Whiz" Buckley · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-25

Buckley, who never ejected during his 15-year Navy career, described the devastating physical toll ejection can have on the human body.

“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,”

Matthew "Whiz" Buckley · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-25

Buckley said Simon will likely face a review board and argued the public deserves to know what happened given the $60 to $65 million cost of the aircraft.

“If your legs aren't flat on the seat, it could break both of your legs and now you bleed out and die.”

Matthew "Whiz" Buckley · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-25

Buckley described the dangers of the "seat slap" phenomenon, which can occur if a pilot's legs are not flush with the seat prior to ejecting.

“That was the most violent thing that ever happened to that Marine in his entire life.”

Matthew "Whiz" Buckley · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-25

Buckley said Simon was likely experiencing a combination of shock, adrenaline letdown, and training effects after ejecting from his F-18.

“Most folks don't even remember the ejection. They remember pulling the handle and then waking up in their parachute.”

Matthew "Whiz" Buckley · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-25

Buckley described how most pilots do not remember the ejection itself, only pulling the handle and later waking up in their parachute.

“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,”

Matthew "Whiz" Buckley · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-25

Buckley speculated about what may have been going through Simon's mind before the crash, expressing concern that the pilot may have been showing off for spectators.

“If anything's going wrong, we focus on the task. Everything else goes away,”

Matthew "Whiz" Buckley · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-25

Buckley told Fox News Digital that Marine Corps pilots are trained to compartmentalize under pressure, which helps explain Simon's composed demeanor after the crash.

“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,”

Matthew "Whiz" Buckley · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-25

Buckley explained the extreme violence of the ejection process, noting that ejection seats generate 10 to 20 G's of force.