Finland

List being compiled

Chronological Listing of Finnish Ejections

Date	Air Force	A'cft	Unit / Serial	based	crashed	crew	photo	seat

Valmet VH-31 Vihuris	From its intorduction in 1951 until removed from service April 1959, 16 aircraft (of the 51 built) were lost or destroyed beyond repair. Nine pilot were lost in the accidents.

DATE ??		Vampire [Type ??]			Mid air collision	Pilot ejected
DATE ??		Vampire [Type ??]			Mid air collision	???
25th January 1954	Finland	MIG-15			Crashed near Rautjärvi, near Imatra	Russian Pilot Leutenant Gennadij Perezhok ejected


29th July 1958	Finland	???				Capt. O. Halminen ejected		Martin-Baker
19th April 1964	Finland	Gnat F.Mk.I	GN-108	FL.35	spin due to fuel blockage	Lt. M. T. Kepponnen ejected safely		Folland
20.5.1964	Finland	MiG-21F	MG-64		Had engine problem	Captain Kauko Juvonen ejected
10th February 1968	Finland	Gnat F.Mk.I	GN-111	FL.46 Luonetjarvi base	trim failure	Pilot ejected safely		Gnat F.Mk.I
27.11.1970	Finland	MU-3 [Mig-15UTI]				Major Seppo Vuorio ejected
2.7.1971	Finland	MiG-21F	MG-62		Hit trees during low level nav sortie.	Sergeant Veikko Wetterstrand ejected between the trees and was saved.
8th September 1975	Finland	MiG-21F	MG-79	Karelia Wing, Siilinjärvi	Engine trouble during post maintenance test flight. disintegrated in flight due to the failure of the engine high-pressure turbine disc After ejection the engine stopped and the aircraft was cut into two pieces.	The pilot Segeant 1st class Yrjö Mörsky was injured during ejection		KM-1
19th November 1977	Finland	MiG-21F				Pilot Lieutenent Heikki Lahtela ejected safely		KM-1
19th November 1977	Finland	MiG-21F	MG-63 Karelia Wing, Juankoski	Was returning from a fly-by when the other main gear didn't come down. One main landing gear of MG-63 failed to extend due to a mechanical failure. The aircraft landed almost intact in the middle of a wood. The aircraft was used as a training devise in the Air Force Technical School.		Pilot Lieutenent Heikki Lahtela ejected safely		KM-1
17th March 1981	Finland	Hawk	HW-302	Satakunnan Air Command, Fighter Squadron 21 [HavLv 21] Pirkkala AB	hit trees when coming out of the loop too low
17th March 1981	Finland	Hawk	HW-302		hit trees when coming out of the loop too low	Capt Kari Heilimo ejected as plane inverted very low, but hit the ground	Maj Jukka Uhari - did not eject survived heavily wounded	Martin-Baker
FEEDBACK	I found your pages about Ejections on Internet and as a former pilot in the Finnish Air Force I found that there was an error in the list of Finnish ejections. There was not to my knowledge any ejection from a Hawk on the 6th of July 1981. On the other hand there was an accident on the 17th of March 1981 with from . The pilot, Capt Kari Heilimo ejected but hit the ground after the aircraft had hit the trees and the aircraft was rolling. The passenger, had forgot to remove the safety pin from the ejection seat and remained in the aircraft surviving the impact with the ground. Reference: The book "Kohtalokkaat lennot 1945-1988" by Jaakko Hyvönen.
	HW-302, , 17.3.1981 HW-302 . Pilot ejected and killed back seater did not eject and.
24th August 1984	Finland	MiG-21bis	MG-115	Karelia Wing, Anttola	The oil filler cap of MG-115 opened inflight, resulting in, Oil pressure failure. engine damage, crashed at Anttola, 25kms south‑east of Mikkeli, Finland	The pilot Capt Olavi Salla ejected without injuries		KM-1
9th May 1986	Finland	Hawk	HW-313	Lapland Air Command, Fighter Squadron 11, Kemijärvi	hit the ground during display practise on practise area and was totally destroyed	Pilot did not eject, and was killed		Martin-Baker
30th September 1986	Finland	MiG-21bis	MG-120	Karelia Wing, Juankoski	inflight Engine compressor blade failure	The pilot Capt Pauli Perttula ejected with minor injuries		KM-1
16th December 1988	Finland	Hawk	HW-320	Satakunta Air Command, Fighter Squadron 21, Pirkkala AB	The landing gear of collapsed on hard landing Plane repaired and is back in service			Martin-Baker
16th December 1988	Finland	Hawk	HW-320	Satakunta Air Command, Fighter Squadron 21, Pirkkala AB		Lt. P. Tikkanen ejected without injuries	Lt. J. G. M. Jakonen ejected without injuries	Martin-Baker
27th February 1989	Finland	Hawk	HW-340	Lapland Air Command, Fighter Squadron 11, Kittilä airport	swerved into a snow bank after a hard landing on the edge of the runway. Plane repaired and is back in service			Martin-Baker
27th February 1989	Finland	Hawk	HW-340	Lapland Air Command, Fighter Squadron 11, Kittilä airport		HANNU Tournela ejected, no injuries	Laitinen ejected, no injuries	Martin-Baker
5th December 1989	Finland	Hawk	HW-317	Karelian Air Command, Fighter Squadron 31, Rissala AB	engine failure on takeoff	M. Ritola ejected no injuries		Martin-Baker
9th December 1989	Finland	Hawk T.51	HW-319	Kuopio, Finland	crashed on take-off aircraft was destroyed	Pilot ejected	????	Martin-Baker
5th November 1991	Finland	MiG-21bis	MG-117	Karelia Air Command, Sotkamo	sustained landing Nose gear system failure inflight at night Plane flew almost 150 km after ejection.	The pilot Sr Ltn Kimmo Niemelä ejected		KM-1
22 March 1995	Finland	MiG-21bis	MG-122	HavLLv 31 Karelia Air Command, Maaninka	engine fire due to turbine failure crashed at Maaninka approx 25 miles from its base at Rissala AB	The pilot Ensign Jyri "Jyty" Ruokonen ejected		KM-1
7th April 1998	Finland	Hawk	HW-323	Karelian Air Command, Fighter Squadron 31, Tuusniemi	Hit the ground in vertical manouvre during dog-fight training	Pilot likely ejected but too late and hit the ground still in his seat		Martin-Baker
1st July 1998	Finland	Hawk	HW-324	Flight Test Centre, Pälkäne	Engine flamed out due to the incorrect assembly of a fuel system component			Martin-Baker
1st July 1998	Finland	Hawk	HW-324	Flight Test Centre, Pälkäne		Kostiainen ejected safely	Pitkanen ejected safely	Martin-Baker
7th November 2001	Finland	F-18 Hornet	HN-430	Karstula	HN-413 and HN-430 collided on a training mission at night.HN-413 sustained severe damage but was able to return to base on one engine	pilot Senior Lt. Jouni Junttila ejected		Martin-Baker 1st Hornet Ejection in the Finnish Air Force
7th November 2001	Finland	F-18 Hornet	HN-413	Karstula	Sustained severe damage but was able to return to base on one engine	Senior Lt. Ville Pasanen
Tuesday 25th March 2003	Finland	Hawk	HW-305	Lapland Air Command, Fighter Squadron 31, Salla	During low level flight on a training flight, hit trees during turn and sustained damage			Martin-Baker
Tuesday 25th March 2003	Finland	Hawk	HW-305	Lapland Air Command, Fighter Squadron 31, Salla		lieutenant ejected sustaining only minor injuries	cadet ejected sustaining only minor injuries	Martin-Baker
1st September 2004	Finland	Hawk	HW-325	Finnish Air Force Academy, Training Squadron, Siikainen	Hit the ground in bad weather	Pilot 2nd Lt. ??? killed		Martin-Baker
4th May 2006	Finland	F/A-18C Hornet	HN-438	Karelia Air Command	Mid air collision. Canopy damage Landed aircraft safely at Rissala Airbase in Kuopio	1st Lt ?? No Ejection		Martin-Baker
4th May 2006	Finland	F/A-18C Hornet	HN-447	Karelia Air Command	Mid air collision. Tail damage Landed aircraft safely at Rissala Airbase in Kuopio	1st Lt ?? No Ejection		Martin-Baker
Thursday 28th September 2006 evening shortly after 22:00	Finnish Air Force	Hawk Mk51 jet fighter-trainer	HW-335	Training Air Wing, Fighter Squadron 41, Kruunupyy airport	Bird strike after practise ILS approach and go-around Crashed in woodland near airfield, Kruunupyy	photo Finnish Defence Forces		Martin-Baker
Thursday 28th September 2006 evening shortly after 22:00	Finnish Air Force	Hawk Mk51 jet fighter-trainer	HW-335	Training Air Wing, Fighter Squadron 41, Kruunupyy airport		pilot ejected safely landed nearby Finnish Air Force webpage TRANSLATION thanks to Peter Mattjus		Martin-Baker
Thursday 21st January 2010	Finnish Defence Forces	F-18D Hornet	HN-413		Crashed during test flight in forest in Juupajoki in Finland's Pirkanmaa province 200 kilometers north of Helsinki			Martin-Baker NACES
	Finnish Defence Forces	F-18D Hornet	HN-413			Captain ??? 32 ejected fracture injuries	Lieutenant Colonel ??? 44 ejected injuries	Martin-Baker NACES
	This was the damaged single-seater which had recently completed several years on rebuild into a two-seat F-18D as HN-468. The aircraft had only reflown on December 3 after 100,000 man-hours of work by Patria on the conversion. [see 7th November 2001]

page last updated
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 00:21

Sources + References Under Construction below

	Sources - Finnish Defence Forces; Folland Gnat History; Sir James Martin-Biography, world wide web; From the book "Mig-21 Suomen Sinessä" (in Finnish) ISBN 951-97839-0-3 Suomen Ilmavoimien Lentokoneet (MiG-21 in Finnish Air Force) by Jyrkl Laukkanen ISBN 952-502639-6 (in Finnish - some English translations and captions)
	Perttu Karivalo Jukka O. Kauppinen Jarmo Lindberg Peter Mattjus Finnish Ministry of Defence Göran Bruun, Res.Ltn, Finnish Air Force