SURPRISE, SURPRISE …. when you set your butt on fire.

A passenger enjoying a civilian joyride accidentally cut the trip short when he ejected himself from the plane after grabbing the eject lever while trying to brace himself.

The passenger, who was flying in a Pilatus PC-7 Mk II with an air force pilot friend, The Daily Mail reported.

He was instantly blasted 320-feet into the sky by the rocket-powered chair, before floating to the ground with an automatic parachute, the paper reported.

Air Force officers quickly deployed a helicopter to retrieve the passenger after his fall 80 miles south of Cape Town, South Africa.

The pilot of the craft, Captain Gerhard Lourens, is a long-time member of the Silver Falcons air force air display team, according to The Daily Mail.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,571147,00.html?test=latestnews