eli5: the F14 tomcat ejection- does it matter if the pilot or RIO initiates ejection

Question

In the original Top Gun, Maverick says that he cannot reach the ejection handles because he is pinned forward, which forces Goose to eject them out of the plane. Would the outcome have been different if Maverick was able to punch them out instead of Goose having to? Or would Goose still have crashed into the canopy?

In: 1

Answer 1

The ejection will happen the same way. The reason Goose hit the canopy is because they were in a flat spin creating a low pressure zone directly above them, making it so the canopy lingered in that space.