Quick answer: On Shawn Ryan Show #326, former U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet pilot Kegan "Smurf" Gill describes a 2014 training flight in which, he says, he "yanked that ejection handle" about "2 seconds before I impacted the ocean," going ".95 indicated Mach," or "about 695 mph." By the time he had left the jet, he says, he "had about a second and a half" before he would have hit the water. "The jet flew right in the ocean and just vaporized into nothing."
Clip: Viral Podcast Shorts YouTube Short from the full source linked below.
The official YouTube title of the July 30, 2026, episode is Kegan Gill - F-18 Pilot Survives Two Hours in the Atlantic With a Broken Neck | SRS #326. This article stays with the timing-and-speed account used in the Viral Podcast Shorts clip and does not take up the injury or recovery material in that title, or in the rest of the interview.
In his introduction, Ryan identifies Gill as "a US Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet pilot." The episode description calls him a former Super Hornet pilot and the author of Phoenix Revival. Ryan's introduction, and the same description, place the ejection "in 2014, during a dog fighting training exercise," and both use the phrase "the fastest ejection in naval aviation history." That wording is the show's. This article does not treat it as an official Navy record. In the same interview, outside the Short, Gill says he "showed up January 15th, 2014 for a flight that was going to change the rest of my life."
"The ocean is just rushing up at me"
The Short picks up mid-story. "All I knew was I was pointed straight at the ocean with the stick in my lap," Gill says, "and then all of the sudden the jet just stopped turning." He "could feel the Gs ease up," and "very quickly I heard the radar altimeter blaring altitude, altitude and the ocean is just rushing up at me."
He could see the whitecaps. "I was so close. And I just knew I wasn't getting out of that thing." He "threw the throttles into idle" and "put out the speed brake in this desperate attempt to slow down." It was, he says, "just too little, too late."
Two seconds, then the jet is gone
The numbers in the clip are his. "And 2 seconds before I impacted the ocean going .95 indicated Mach, so 95% the speed of sound at almost sea level, uh about 695 mph, uh I yanked that ejection handle."
He repeats the clock after that. "When I initiated the ejection, I was 2 seconds from impact. So by the time I had exited the aircraft, I had about a second and a half before I was going to impact the ocean." Then the airplane itself is gone: "The jet flew right in the ocean and just vaporized into nothing."
The official chapter list labels this part of the interview "The Crash & Ejection at Mach 0.95," starting at 44:16. The Short begins a few minutes into that chapter, at about 47:42. In the edited clip, Gill goes from "I yanked that ejection handle" to "When I initiated the ejection, I was 2 seconds from impact." Between those two lines in the full episode, he keeps talking about the ejection itself. The Short leaves that middle section out, and this article does too. It stays with the clock, the speed he gives, and what he says happened to the jet.
The Short ends on the airplane hitting the water. Gill does not, in this cut, name the squadron, the training area, or what failed in the jet. Those details belong to the longer episode, not to the clip this article follows. He also does not, in the Short, describe the injuries named in the episode title. That material is outside this piece.
Related reading
- Royce Williams on the 263 holes in his jet, and the secret he kept for 50-some years
- Clint Emerson on the Navy dolphin that thumped his back
- Kevin Mandia on growing up in 1980s Pittsburgh, from the Shawn Ryan Show
- Josh Howerton on the welcome-home feast, from the Shawn Ryan Show
FAQ
Who is Kegan Gill, as the episode identifies him?
The official description calls Kegan "Smurf" Gill a former U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot and the author of Phoenix Revival. Ryan's introduction names the aircraft as an F/A-18E Super Hornet.
When does the episode say the ejection happened?
Ryan's introduction and the official YouTube description place it in 2014, during a dogfighting training exercise. In the same interview, outside the Short, Gill dates the flight to January 15, 2014.
How close does he say he was to hitting the water?
About two seconds, he says, when he pulled the handle, and about a second and a half by the time he had left the aircraft, at about 695 mph, or .95 indicated Mach, "at almost sea level."
What happened to the jet, in his account?
"The jet flew right in the ocean and just vaporized into nothing."