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From: andrew@jhereg.osa.com (Andrew C. Esh)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Ejection seats
Message-ID: <1991Feb20.052710.29945@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 20 Feb 91 05:27:10 GMT
References: <1991Feb4.052511.15316@cbnews.att.com> <1991Feb15.065658.9396@cbnews.att.com>
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Organization: Open Systems Architects, Inc., Mpls, MN
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From: andrew@jhereg.osa.com (Andrew C. Esh)

In article <1991Feb15.065658.9396@cbnews.att.com> uunet!mcgp1!flak (Dan Flak) writes:
>
>
[... Writing about T-33 ejection]
>
>Sitting in the seat, I noticed several things at once. For
>starters, my knees were under the instrument panel. I wondered if
>I would leave them behind in an ejection. We were told that the
>seat tilted back before ejection, but I wasn't so sure.

Ejection, as it was explained to me, forces you upward so fast, that
your feet fall toward the bottom of the seat, and are not sticking forward
to collide with the bottom of the instrument panel. I was told that I
should go ahead and TRY to kick the instrument panel on the way out, during
ejection training. I never hit it.

As far as knees being under the instrument panel, I would guess that that
was either a dangerous situation (i.e. you WOULD leave your knees), or the
forward edge of the seat pan would either tilt down or was short enough so
your knees would trail down the same as your feet. Such an ejection seat
design, it would seem to me, would lift you by the harness, instead of the
seat of the pants, thereby producing some rather nasty injuries,
considering where the straps would bind on you. :-)

A seat that tilts back? Maybe one that would slide back would clear the
knees, but I have yet to hear of a seat that does any maneuvering before
ejection. They spend a lot of time trying to find ways to get the pilot out
sooner. Why blow all that by adding a carnival ride prior to ejection? It's
easier to design the plane so everything clears. This is also why there are
size and weight restrictions on pilots. The part has to fit the machine.
-- 
Andrew C. Esh
Open Systems Architects, Inc.
(612)525-0000
andrew@osa.com		previously: andrew!drum!gong!bangyerdead