July 18, 2004

Ejection Seats.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 1:26 pm

Ejection Seat.jpg
Lex, a Navy flyer, shares some information about ejection seats. Here is a sample:

Roughly half of people who eject get knocked out when the chute opens. The other half can’t be sure.

If you eject from high altitude, you’ll free-fall in the seat for what I’m told feels like forever. There’s an altimeter in the seat, to ensure the chute doesn’t open too soon. There are at least three reasons why you don’t want a chute to open right away at altitude: 1) You’d freeze to death on the way down, 2) If you didn’t freeze, you’d probably suffocate after the oxygen in your seat pan ran out, and 3) The thinness of the air at altitude means you’re falling pretty quickly in absolute terms – the opening shock might tear your legs and arms off.

These are all bad things, for those of you keeping score at home. Read it all.

Sort of puts “a hard day at the office” into perspective, methinks.

Via Tammi.

3 Comments »

  1. You have to be careful if you go over there and start reading – it’s highly addictive!!

    Comment by Tammi — July 18, 2004 @ 2:25 pm

  2. Holy Shit!!!I followed the link…Damn..

    Comment by Sam — July 19, 2004 @ 1:35 pm

  3. Another one to add to the list of a hard day at the office:

    You set up six 200 lb. shots of high explosive and only get five booms. After waiting thirty minutes for said boom, you are the (un)lucky fellow who gets to go determine why no boom.

    That walk to the shot site is simultaneously the longest walk in your life and you seem to arrive way, way to soon.

    Sapper Mike

    Comment by Sapper Mike — July 23, 2004 @ 2:26 pm

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