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From: gazit%cs.duke.edu@usc.edu (Hillel)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Where all these legends come from... (Was Re: F-15 lands with one)
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Date: 16 Aug 89 06:14:34 GMT
References: <8173@cbnews.ATT.COM> <8271@cbnews.ATT.COM>
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From: gazit%cs.duke.edu@usc.edu (Hillel)

In article <8271@cbnews.ATT.COM> page@ferrari.ece.uiuc.edu (Ward Page) writes:
>An interesting story I heard from a safety engineer at Gen. Dynamics when
>I worked there:  An Israeli F-4 had just landed and was taxiing off of the
>runway when the ejection seat went off and shot the pilot clear of the area.
>The F-4 was still taxiing when the pilot, free of his chute, caught up with
>the A/C, climbed in and taxied the plane to its hangar.

I know that the original article is about one month old, but I 
"have to" to point out some strange points in the story:

1) Ejection seat is *not* an electronic system, and one has to use force
   to eject (to prevent "ejection by mistake").
2) There is a force of more than 10 g on the pilot when he ejects.  Most
   people can't run such a shock.
3) Ejection takes *time*, especially the way down (the chute has to
   be opened, etc.)
4) The seat ejects up *and* back, so the pilot had to finish the ejection
   process *behind* the plane. 
5) It's not easy to taxi a plane when you can't seat
    (the seat was ejected, remember?)
6) F-4 has two seats, so the other pilot could take care of the plane.

Hillel                                          gazit@cs.duke.edu