Timeline for Why are pilots deemed unfit to fly after emergency ejection?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
14 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 16, 2019 at 11:05 | comment | added | dotancohen | TIL: I have been deemed the rate of change of acceleration. | |
| Mar 18, 2016 at 19:36 | comment | added | Wayne Conrad | @JoeBlow G is a measure of acceleration. G/second is a measure of the rate of change of acceleration. The rate of change of acceleration is sometimes called "jerk." | |
| Dec 15, 2015 at 0:03 | comment | added | Fattie | love the "newspaper science" there "200G per second" :) | |
| Jun 3, 2015 at 11:15 | comment | added | user | @Mehrdad That sounds like a decent separate question. | |
| Jun 3, 2015 at 7:50 | comment | added | user541686 | Do you happen to know what fraction of pilots who eject suffer no significant or lasting injuries? | |
| Jun 3, 2015 at 3:38 | vote | accept | Victor Juliet | ||
| Jun 2, 2015 at 22:05 | comment | added | Rhino Driver | @Meower68 You're not holding onto anything at 500kts. | |
| Jun 2, 2015 at 21:46 | comment | added | Meower68 | The ACES-II ejection seat (marketing tagline: "Thrust You Can Trust") in the F-16 completely removes the canopy from the aircraft before the solid rocket motor (!!!) ejects the pilot from the aircraft. It's capable of removing a pilot from a stationary aircraft and lofting them to enough altitude that the parachute can fully deploy. It's designed so that both hands are between your legs when you pull the ejection handle, trying to mitigate the "flailing" injuries at high speeds. Still, I must agree with the author, it is EXTREMELY violent and injurious. Beats the alternative. Not by much. | |
| Jun 2, 2015 at 21:32 | comment | added | Rhino Driver | For completeness sake, in a single-seat aircraft you're looking at about a 0.4 sec exit time with a parachute deployment starting at between 1-2 secs. That alone is insanity. | |
| Jun 2, 2015 at 21:29 | comment | added | Rhino Driver | Common initial ejection forces can be in excess of 500G's with the sustained G rates that you cited, roughly 12-16, all dependent on aircrew weight. The vast majority of injuries occur at initial ejection and entrance into the wind stream. High speeds ejections cause massive flail injuries and basically windmill your arms and legs. Otherwise, most ejections result in major damage to lower extremities because you hit the ground at roughly 25-30kts. Ejection seats have evolved enough that spinal injuries seem to be less concerning than the were years ago. | |
| Jun 2, 2015 at 19:00 | comment | added | TechZen | I have read anecdotal stories of pilots measuring a full inch shorter following an injection owing to compression of the disc in their spines. Ejection is bascially like being shot out of cannon. Somehow, you usually see slow motion films of ejection but if you see a real-time eject, it's just "bang" and the pilots not in the cockpit anymore. | |
| Jun 2, 2015 at 9:15 | history | edited | Thunderstrike | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 720 characters in body
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| Jun 2, 2015 at 9:08 | history | edited | Thunderstrike | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 720 characters in body
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| Jun 2, 2015 at 9:02 | history | answered | Thunderstrike | CC BY-SA 3.0 |