US Air Force F-15 Eagle ejection seat test using a mannequin.

In (mostly military) aircraft, the ejection seat is a system designed to rescue the pilot or other crew in the event of the aircraft becoming unflyable. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by a rocket motor, carrying the pilot with it. The concept of an ejectable escape capsule has also been tried. Once clear of the aircraft, the ejection seat deploys a parachute, and descends back safely to earth. This photograph is of an ejection seat test in which a mannequin was blasted through the canopy of an F/A-22 Raptor during launch. ... This photograph is of an ejection seat test in which a mannequin was blasted through the canopy of an F/A-22 Raptor during launch. ... The Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas) F-15 Eagle is an American-built all-weather tactical fighter designed to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. ... Airbus A380 An aircraft is any machine capable of atmospheric flight. ... A rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving exhaust from within a rocket engine. ... The Apollo 15 capsule landed safely despite a parachute failure. ...

History

While a bungee-assisted escape from an aircraft took place in 1910, the ejection seat as we recognise it today was invented in Germany in 1938 and perfected during World War II. Prior to this, the only means of escape from an incapacitated aircraft was to jump clear, and in many cases this was difficult due to injury, the difficulty of egress from a confined space, the airflow past the aircraft and other factors. Bungee Jump in Normandy, France Bungee jumping (or Bungy jumping) is an activity in which a person jumps off from a high place (generally of several hundred feet/meters) with one end of an elastic cord attached to his/her body or ankles and the other end tied to the... -1... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II...

The first ejection seats were developed independently during the second world war by Heinkel and SAAB. Early models were powered by compressed air and the first aircraft to be fitted with such a system was the Heinkel He 280 prototype jet fighter in 1941. One of the He 280 test pilots, Helmut Schenk, became the first person to escape from a stricken aircraft with an ejection seat on January 13, 1942 after his control surfaces iced up and became inoperable. This aircraft never reached production status, and the first operational type to provide ejection seats for the crew was the Heinkel He 219 Uhu night fighter in 1942. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Heinkel Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. ... Saab is an aircraft and automobile concern based in Sweden, founded 1937 in Linköping. ... Compressed air is used to refer to: Pneumatics, the use of pressurized gases to do work, as used in the Air car Breathing gas, often used in scuba diving, also to inflate buoyancy devices Compressed air can also be used for cooling using a vortex tube. ... The Heinkel He 280 was the first jet-powered fighter aircraft built in the world. ... A Pratt and Whitney turbofan engine for the F-15 Eagle is tested at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, USA. The tunnel behind the engine muffles noise and allows exhaust to escape. ... An A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-86 Sabre, P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang fly in formation during an air show at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... This article is about the year. ...

In Sweden a version using compressed air was tested in 1941. A gunpowder ejection seat was developed by Bofors tested in 1943 for the Saab 21. The first test in the air was on a Saab 17 on 27 February 1944. [1] For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... Bofors is an iron works, cannon maker, and defence industry located in Karlskoga, Sweden. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... The Saab 21 was a fighter/attack aircraft from SAAB that first took to air in 1943. ... The Saab 17 was a Swedish bomber-reconnaisance aircraft. ... February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ...

In late 1944, the Heinkel He 162 featured a new type of ejection seat, this time fired by an explosive cartridge. In this system the seat rode on wheels set between two pipes running up the back of the cockpit. When lowered into position, caps at the top of the seat fitted over the pipes to close them. Cartridges, basically identical to shotgun shells, were placed in the bottom of the pipes, facing upward. When fired the gases would fill the pipes, "popping" the caps off the end and thereby forcing the seat to ride up the pipes on its wheels, and out of the aircraft. By wars end the Do-335 Pfeil, Me-262 Schwalbe and Me-163 Komet also were fitted with ejection seats. 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... The Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger (Peoples Fighter) was the second jet engined fighter aircraft to be fielded by the Luftwaffe in WWII. It was a rival to the Messerschmitt Me 262 and was the fastest of the first generation of Axis and Allied jets. ... Cockpit of a light aircraft, showing instrumentation dials and dual control yokes. ... A pump-action and two semi-automatic action shotguns, 20 boxes of shotgun shells, a target thrower, and three boxes of clay targets. ... The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil (Arrow) was a World War II heavy fighter built by the Dornier company. ... The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (Swallow) was the first operational jet powered aircraft. ... The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet was the only operational rocket fighter aircraft. ...

After World War II, the need for such systems became pressing, as aircraft speeds were getting ever higher, and it was not long before the sound barrier was broken. Manual escape at such speeds would be impossible. The United States Army Air Corps experimented with downward-ejecting systems operated by a spring, but it was the work of the British company Martin-Baker that was to prove crucial. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Supersonic. ... 1. ... Springs A spring is a flexible elastic object used to store mechanical energy. ... Martin-Baker Aircraft is a manufacturer of aircraft seats and is the oldest existing maker of ejector seats. ...

The first live flight test of the M-B system took place on July 24, 1946, when Bernard Lynch ejected from a Gloster Meteor Mk III. Shortly afterwards, on August 17, 1946, 1st Sgt. Larry Lambert was the first live US ejectee. M-B ejector seats were fitted to prototype and production aircraft from the late 1940s, and the first emergency use of a Martin-Baker seat occurred in 1949 while testing the Armstrong-Whitworth AW.52 Flying Wing. July 24 is the 205th day (206th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 160 days remaining. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The Gloster Meteor was the first jet fighter aircraft of the British Royal Air Force, introduced into service only weeks after the Third Reichs Messerschmitt Me 262, in August 1944 during World War II. It was thus the second fighter jet in history and the first of the WWII... August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... // Events and trends World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ... tedfgfggggggggggggggggggggreqwwwwwwwwwtrythjmmnbn bgvbfsddddfffffffffrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr gfdffdv fdbbbbb grtrmjgiohtjutjgkhernfkkmwnr. ...

Capt. Christopher Stricklin ejects from his F-16 aircraft with an ACES II ejection seat, on September 14, 2003. Stricklin was not injured.

Early seats used a solid propellant charge to defenestrate the pilot and seat, by exploding the charge inside a telescoping tube attached to the seat. Effectively the seat was fired from the aircraft like a bullet from a gun. As jet speeds increased still further, this method proved inadequate to get the pilot sufficiently clear of the airframe, so experiments with rocket propulsion began. The F-102 Delta Dagger was the first aircraft to be fitted with a rocket propelled seat, in 1958. MB developed a similar design, using multiple rocket units feeding a single nozzle. This had the advantage of being able to eject the pilot to a safe height even if the aircraft itself was on or very near the ground. Download high resolution version (1180x1368, 857 KB)Capt. ... Download high resolution version (1180x1368, 857 KB)Capt. ... September 14 is the 257th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (258th in leap years). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Defenestrate - to throw out a window. ... The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger fighter aircraft was part of the backbone of the United States air defenses in the late 1950s. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In the early 1960s, deployment began of rocket-powered ejection seats designed for bailout at supersonic speeds, in such planes as the F-106 Delta Dart. Six pilots have ejected at speeds exceeding 700 knots (805mph) and the highest altitude a M-B seat was deployed at was 57,000ft (from a Canberra in 1958). It has been rumoured but not confirmed that an SR-71 pilot ejected at Mach 3 at an altitude of 80,000ft. Despite these records, most ejections occur at fairly low speeds and at fairly low altitudes. The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... The Convair F-106A Delta Dart was the primary all-weather interceptor aircraft for the US Air Force from the 1960s through the late 1970s. ... A knot is a non SI unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour. ... The English Electric Canberra was a first-generation jet bomber manufactured in large numbers through the 1950s, and as of 2006 some still remain in service. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Lockheed SR-71, unofficially known as the Blackbird, is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft by Lockheeds Skunk works, which was also responsible for the U-2 and many other advanced aircraft. ... Mach number (Ma) (pronounced in British English with a Germanic ch, as mack or mark and as mock in American English) is defined as a ratio of the speed of an object or flow relative to the speed of sound in the medium through which it is travelling: Vo/Vs...

Pilot safety

The purpose of an ejection seat is pilot survival, not pilot comfort. Many pilots have suffered career-ending injuries while using ejection seats, including crushed vertebrae. The pilot typically experiences an acceleration of about 12 to 14 g (120 to 140 m/s²). Western seats usually impose lighter loads on the pilots; ex-Soviet technology often goes up to 20-22 g. Career-ending injuries are quite common, partly because eastern military pilots usually continue to fly into their late-40s or early-50s, while most western jet pilots retire from the military in their late-30's. g (also gee, g-force or g-load) is a non-SI unit of acceleration defined as exactly 9. ...

By May 2006, Martin-Baker ejection seats had saved 7152 lives. The total figure for all types of ejector seats is unknown, but must be considerably higher. 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Non-standard ejection systems

The F-104 Starfighter was equipped, uniquely, with a downward firing ejection seat due to the hazard of the T-tail. In order to make this work, the pilot was equipped with "spurs" which were attached to cables that would pull the legs inwards so the pilot could be ejected. Note that such a system is of no use on or near the ground. Aircraft designed for low-level usage sometimes will have ejection seats which fire through the plastic of the canopy, as waiting for the canopy to be ejected is too slow. Many aircraft types (e.g. BAe Hawk) have an explosive cord (MDC - Miniature Detonation Cord) embedded within the perspex of the canopy, which shatters it simultaneously with the firing of the seat. Soviet Yak-38 VTOL naval fighter planes were equipped with automatically activated ejection seats, mandated by the notorious unreliability of their vertical lifting powerplants. F-104 Starfighter The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was a high-performance supersonic interceptor aircraft, capable of high speeds and climb rates. ... In aircraft a T-tail is an arrangement of the tail control surfaces with the horizontal surfaces (tailplane and elevators) mounted to the top of the fin, rather than the more common location on the fuselage at the base of the fin. ... The BAE Hawk is an advanced jet trainer manufactured by BAE Systems and used by the Royal Air Force and other countries air forces. ... The Yakovlev Yak-38 (NATO reporting name: Forger) was Soviet Naval Aviations first and only operational VTOL multi-role combat aircraft. ... Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) describes airplanes that can lift off vertically. ...

Some aircraft designs, such as the General Dynamics F-111, do not have individual ejection seats, but instead, the entire section of the airframe containing the crew can be ejected as a single capsule. In this system, very powerful rockets are used, and multiple large parachutes are used to bring the capsule down, in a manner very similar to the Launch Escape System of the Apollo spacecraft. On landing, an airbag system is used to cushion the landing, and this also acts as a flotation device if the capsule lands in water. A U.S. Air Force F-111 The General Dynamics F-111 was a long-range strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and tactical strike aircraft. ... Apollo Spacecraft: Command Module, Service Module, Lunar Module. ... An automobile airbag, like this one in a crashed SEAT Ibiza car, deflates after 0. ...

Ejection seats in other aircraft

The Kamov Ka-50 was the first helicopter to be fitted with an ejection seat. The system is very similar to that of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft; the main rotor is equipped with explosive bolts and is designed to disintegrate moments before the seat rocket is fired. Kamov Ka-50 The Ka-50 is a Russian single-seat military helicopter, designed as a gunship. ... The Bell 206 of Canadian Helicopters Robinson Helicopter Company (USA) R44, a four seat development of the R22 A helicopter is an aircraft which is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors. ... R0t0r is from efnet ... An explosive bolt is a fastener that incorporates a pyrotechnic charge that can be initiated by an electrical command. ...

Controversially, the US space shuttle is not fitted with ejection seats nor an escape capsule system of any kind. (However the first four flights of the first shuttle, Columbia were with a crew of two, and the pilot and commander both had ejection seats on these flights. When the crew was increased, the seats were disabled, as having the pilot and commander eject while the rest of the crew died was not an option even considered) The Space Shuttle Columbia seconds after engine ignition, 1981 (NASA). ...

The Soviet's shuttle "Buran" was planned to be fitted with K-36RB (K-36M-11F35) seats, but the first, unmanned, flight in 1988, on which the crew cabin was not yet installed, would be the only one. An artists rendition of a Soviet space shuttle lifting off atop the immense Energia booster. ...

The only spacecraft ever flown with installed ejection seats are the Soviet Vostok and American Gemini series. During the Vostok program, all the returning cosmonauts would eject as their capsule descended under parachutes at about 7,000 m (23,000 ft). This fact was kept secret for many years as the FAI rules at the time required that a pilot must land with the spacecraft to be considered an official spaceflight for the FAI record books. The Vostok program (Восто́к, translated as East) was a Soviet human spaceflight project that succeeded in putting a person into Earth orbit for the first time. ... Project Gemini insignia Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program in which the United States of America sent humans into space, between Projects Mercury and Apollo, during the years 1963-1966. ... The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) is a standard setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics. ...

Passenger planes are unlikely candidates to receive ejection technology any time soon. The weight, complexity and economic requirements prohibit fitting jetliners with seat or capsule based ejectors and the benefits are not obvious, because most accidents happen during take-off or landing. However, some ultralight and single-engine general aviation aircraft have been refitted with ballistically deployed parachutes recently. These canisterized packages support and lower the entire airframe to earth and thus could be considered an extreme capsule-based ejection system. Ultralight aviation is a segment of aviation that is permitted in the United States of America by the FAA as long as certain weight, speed, and fuel capacity restrictions are observed. ... General aviation (abbr. ... NASA photo series showing the CAPS deployment in action. ...

External links

• www.ejectionsite.com