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Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Subject: Re: Ejection Seats
Message-ID: <6448@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 1-Mar-86 21:51:53 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6448
Posted: Sat Mar  1 21:51:53 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Mar-86 21:51:53 EST
References: <470@tekigm2.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 21

> >... you can eject the lower-deck seats downward...
> 
> Ejecting through the external tank may prove to be quite a trick...

Various people have pointed out that I didn't think this through quite
thoroughly enough, since there are, um, some obstructions underneath
the orbiter.  Sideways ejection might be feasible (this has been proposed
for helicopters), but it runs afoul of a more subtle problem.  The lower
deck does not have direct access to the orbiter skin; it is just about
surrounded by storage lockers and equipment bays.  So much for that...

Ejection capsules, a la the F-111 and the original B-1, have their problems
too.  Mostly, they are complex and heavy and put severe constraints on crew
seating.  E.g., the ejection capsule is a major reason why the F-111 crew
sit side-by-side, which is in most other ways the wrong layout (it makes
the aircraft wide and fat, while a supersonic fighter very badly wants to
be long and skinny).  How difficult it would be to put the shuttle crew in
an ejection capsule I'm not sure, but it doesn't look easy.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry