Why I'd rather fix them than fly them!

[Whizz]

Martin-Baker test film

Martin-Baker Ejection Tests

[Tipsy]

  py
maybe that police officer should of had one fitted  to his bike 

Tipsy

[Biggles]

I thought it would be a crash test dummy they would test at ground level, but it appears to be a person.  It doesn't allow much margin for error, or time to fill the parachute for the descent phase.

[JuST Peter]

  It doesn't allow much margin for error, or time to fill the parachute for the descent phase.

I guess having a rough landing and being able to talk about it is a better alternative...

[Whizz]

Martin-Baker have an ejector seat called a Zero-Zero seat, which will get the pilot out safely if he is at zero feet and zero knots...quite a feat when you consider that it has to throw him high enough to separate from the seat and have sufficient height to allow for his chute to deploy, fill with air and slow him down enough so that he lands safely.

It is a know fact that all ejections compress the spine of the seat occupant by anything up to 3/4 of an inch, in other words the pilot ends up 3/4 inch shorter than when he took off, that is why there is a strict limit to the number of times any individual pilot can 'bang out'. In the British Air Force it is three times...after that all he can fly is a desk.

[JuST Peter]

Martin-Baker have an ejector seat called a Zero-Zero seat, which will get the pilot out safely if he is at zero feet and zero knots...quite a feat when you consider that it has to throw him high enough to separate from the seat and have sufficient height to allow for his chute to deploy, fill with air and slow him down enough so that he lands safely.

It is a know fact that all ejections compress the spine of the seat occupant by anything up to 3/4 of an inch, in other words the pilot ends up 3/4 inch shorter than when he took off, that is why there is a strict limit to the number of times any individual pilot can 'bang out'. In the British Air Force it is three times...after that all he can fly is a desk.

If you'd banged out 3 times wouldn't you consider yourself jinxed?!

[Whizz]

I know of this ruling because of a pilot in the Air Force whose name was Flt Lt Hugh Rigg (his sister was the actress Dianna Rigg), he was a test pilot at Farnborough, and he'd had to bang-out of two test aircraft when I first heard of him, and the next time he had to leave a stricken aircraft the cunning bugger rolled it onto it's back, undid his straps and fell out. He reckoned that was the way to get round the three-strike rule, and it worked for a while.

[Brock]

Cant say that I know of any RAAF Pilots that have ejected more than once, its an experience they dont want to do again. A senior Pilot I know well always said that he would land a PC9, cos his legs wouldnt clear the windscreen hoop on ejection.

[Whizz]

Oh yes they would...they'd just stay behind in the cockpit