Posted on 10/19/2022 6:55:17 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
In TV and movies, a fighter pilot ejecting from their jet comes across as a cut-and-dry procedure. Although it occurs in only a few seconds, ejecting is a complex and violent process that relies on a lot of luck. Even for fighter pilots who successfully eject, around 20% to 30% of them suffer some sort of spinal fracture.
We spoke with Air Force veteran Lt. Col. Pete Smith, one of the few fighter pilots who has actually had to eject, to learn what really happens.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
How many g’s result in blackouts?
I thought around 9?
It wasn’t death-defying for Goose...
Isa Suad
Should have interviewed Capt Mitchell on how he survived ejection at mach 10, another ejection in combat and still managed to steal a F14
There are many variables- are the G’s perfectly vertical, that is parallel to the cervical and thoracic spine? Is the pilot in good physical shape? Are the G’s brief or sustained? Is he breathing 100% oxygen? High or low altitude? The issue is oxygen delivery to the brain and the oxygen’s pressure to cross into the brain cells. If O2 stops being delivered to the neurons, one typically has 2–5 seconds of consciousness. The variables above affect how much blood is delivered against gravity and/or how much O2 is in it. Low altitude has more driving pressure so more O2. Breathing 100% O2 versus 21% in the atmosphere means more O2. A brief, <5 seconds, 10G load may not cause unconsciousness because of O2 already delivered to the brain, but more than 5 seconds may result in blacking out. The F-16 has its seat tilted back about 30 degrees so using trigonometry, the effect of the vertical G is 86% of what pure vertical would be.In the second GIF, you see the ejection seat has a thin strap pulling the pilot's legs in, then stronger straps deploy to lock the legs in position. I presume this is to keep the pilot rigid, but maybe this also prevents g-load blackout? Can FR pilots explain?Long answer to say that everyone is different and circumstances are different. In my fighter pilot days, in good shape and used to G’s, and with a G-suit and Valsalva (grunting) maneuver (adds about 1–2 G’s tolerance by squeezing blood from the legs and abdomen so the heart had more blood to pump), I could sustain 6–7 G’s for maybe 10–20 seconds before I started to “gray out”, then maybe a few more seconds before I lost my peripheral vision, then it was time to ease up until I got my normal vision back.
Ping for tomorrow morning
All that rocket fire in the cockpit can’t be good for the plane. How do they refurbish the cockpit after the ejection seat blasts off?
If they can find it in the crash debris, they strip it down to the component parts and carefully bend them back into shape and reassemble. Marines have been known to use Bondo, but the other branches frown on this practice.
I was a young buck sergeant section ldr and my platoon sergeant’s son was and F16 pilot that had a successful ejection and they considered it a miracle that he was not injured.
About half of the USAF pilots who eject, never return to flight status because of injuries. My son was an instructor in T-6 Texan II’s. He said dad, I fly a 2 Million dollar jet - 1.2 million of that is the Martin-Baker ejection seat.
In the F-4 the legs were pulled in earlier so their feet weren’t chopped off by the front edge of the cockpit.
In a few large combat planes like a B-52, B-1 or B-2, individual crew members can eject independently of the others. Frequently this is part of a complete sequenced aircraft evacuation and the airplane is wreckage.
In some cases a crew dog may eject and the pilot still lands the plane. Two stations on the B-52 eject downwards and four upwards. In models before the G, the tail gunner jettisoned the whole gun section in the rear and literally jumped out of the hole. The seats in the B-1 and B-2 all eject upwards.
The clean up process is highly individualized to the event. Usually total cockpit or crew station replacement because of the burn and chemical damage done when the ejection charge or rocket motor fires.
There is also frequent structural damage caused by foreign object impact or dynamic stressing of the airplane structure caused by the ejection process.
Read in the old F-104 the boots had spurs attached to the seats to pull the feet out of the way.
Spinal injuries are common if the pilot is not perfectly aligned. Not unusual if you are in a hurry to survive.
LOL. I thought so.
I had no idea that ejection caused so many serious injuries. But it isn’t surprising when you think about it. Those slow-mo ejection videos show the violence. The top vid was shot on a rocket sled that was probably going slower than an actual aircraft.
Wow, amazing numbers!
Never knew that. Wow.
Thanks for all that great extra information!
No, I wasn’t serious...it was a joke!
“Spinal injuries are common if the pilot is not perfectly aligned”
The pilot they interviewed in the video said that, too.
When I was in flight school we had an A-4 trainer where the pilot had ejected as it was running off the runway at high speed. The plane stayed upright and intact, the Navy picked it up with a crane, fixed it and put it back to flying. I flew it several times after. The ejection seat malfunctioned and the pilot died in the incident.
Todays ejection seats have gotten much better and they’re now really good. They get you out fast though and the G loads are very high which is why body position is critical, you need your head back against the headrest and chin elevated to align the spine correctly. Another critical factor is airspeed, wind blast is ferocious and you’re not likely to survive an ejection at 600 kts or more whereas 250 kts is much more benign. That’s a reason for the leg garter restraints mentioned above, in addition to ensuring your feet clear the instrument panel they hold your legs in the seat during high speeds until the drogue chute has a chance to slow you down, preventing wind flail injuries.
I never needed to use it but have a couple of friends who had to eject, one from an AV-8B Harrier and another an F/A-18 Hornet. Both were fine, one ejected about 8 am and was back home having lunch with his wife around noon. They’ve saved a lot of lives.
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