View Full Version : Leg/Arm restraints in RAF aircraft?
I was wondering if the RAF use the leg and arm restraints that come as an optional extra for ejection seats? Do any, only some of the RAF aircraft use them?
Just curious :D
Mr Wippy
10th Apr 2006, 17:35
all ejector seats have leg restraints, but as far as I'm aware the Tornado is the only a/c that uses arm restraints. They are built into the lifepreserver which has sleeves. I think the Typhoon also uses them, but not too sure.
BluntM8
10th Apr 2006, 17:41
The leg restraints (and where fitted, arm restraints) are an integral part of the escape kit. The basic idea is that, were they unrestrained, your limbs would flail during ejection and get damaged/removed. The impact of air at 400 odd knots is pretty severe.
The leg restraints are mostly worn just below the kneecap, and are like a thick canvas belt with a pair of d rings on the front. When you strap in there's what looks like a pair of big shoelaces coming out of the seat and you thread these through the loops and they click back into the sides of the seat. The arm restraints are (as far as I know, happy to be corrected) only fitted to Tornado and are part of the life jacket, which has sleves with clips on them which you attach to similar shoelaces on the shoulder of the seat.
Of note, in most Russian designed ejection seats, the leg restraints are fitted in a loop around the leg holes in the cockpit, and when you eject they come off the aircraft and tighten around your shins, drawing them back and achieveing the same end result.
A secondary effect/problem with the leg/arm restraints is that if you are forced into an emergency ground egress, you have to remember to undo them. Otherwise you end up dangling on the side of the aircraft toasting!
In the case of the Tucano and Hawk, when you release the connector that links your radio/oxy systems to the seat (PEC connector) the leg restraints release, but on the Jag you have to find a little handle on the right hand side of the seat to do it. It's conventional to wear your leg restraints with the clips on the inside of your legs. That way if you are faffing you can just undo the buckles and you get enough room to get your feet out as a last resort. Some people prefer this method in all cases as it leaves the metal fitting on the end of the shoelace in the seat and when you practice a ground egress they can whip about the cockpit (as they slide out of the D rings as you bravely run away) and the fitting could break something.
Jimgriff has an excellent website with more information on these sorts of things, but I've forgotten the URL and am too lazy to search the board.
Hope this helps.
Blunty
Onan the Clumsy
10th Apr 2006, 18:00
I'm also rather curious about restraints :E
jimgriff
10th Apr 2006, 19:09
Thanks for the compliment Bluntm8!!:ok:
The Typhoon (martin Baker Mk 16A) also has the leg restaint cockpit mounted as described above and you do not have to wear leg loops.
Some early american seats actually had metal clamps close around your ankles if you ejected and I wince at the thought of what if they didnt release when your harness did....SNAP!! OUCH!!!:sad:
I hope that it is not advertising to remind peeps about my site?
www.ejectorseats.co.uk
BluntM8
10th Apr 2006, 19:16
The most memorable thing about leg restraints from my time in the Tucano was the tedious monotony with which my pre flight checks would include the line "I've got PSP, PEC, Harness locked, mask and visor, and leg restraints...bugger....erm...I'll just hold here a minute for the aircraft downwind/joining/in Yorkshire somewhere" followed by none-too-subtle fummbling around in the footwells!
Still, better than a mate who rolled inverted and _still_ tried to bluff that he'd got them done up, despite the fact that one of them was curled up in the canopy...
Talk Wrench
10th Apr 2006, 19:50
Has anyone got any recollection of groundcrew initated accidents?
I have heard of several. One in particular at a secret Wiltshire location.
Are they just scary airman folklore or true to fact?
TW
Cheers for the speedy reply guys! Thanks for all your info!
The Rocket
11th Apr 2006, 11:38
Without wishing to sound anal,
On Tornado, the arm restraints do indeed clip onto catches near the front of the shoulder on the LSJ, but the restraint lanyards themselves originate at the base of the seat, as do the leg restraints. They route up past the Seat Pan Firing Handle, and are safely tucked away with your harness using 'sticker straps' :8
As BluntM8 said, the release of the leg restraints is automatic with release of the PEC, but arm restraints have to be removed manually.
BluntM8
11th Apr 2006, 12:19
Didn't know that! But then, I missed my opportunity for a pax trip by cunningly contracting Glandular Fever....
jimgriff
11th Apr 2006, 12:34
The arm restraints do indeed "originate" down below near the leg restraints and can be identified by being covered in a light coloured sleeve as apposed to the blue of the leg restraints. They are a total bugger to replace when one tries to rebuild a seat post ejection due to the fact that the rocket eflux has invariably melted the sleeves to the seat.:8
BluntM8
11th Apr 2006, 12:38
They are a total bugger to replace when one tries to rebuild a seat post ejection due to the fact that the rocket eflux has invariably melted the sleeves to the seat.
Do you actually re-use seats once they've been fired? I'd have thought that the combination of rapid acceleration, impact with the atmosphere at meningy knots, an unretarted fall and the subsequent sudden stop would damage the seat to such an extent that you can't trust any bits of it anymore?
Talk Wrench
11th Apr 2006, 20:20
I think you have already answered your own question BluntM8. Would you climb into a cut and shut car? Ejection seats are a last resort option and are (hopefully) designed for a one use only situation.
Regards.
Talk Wrench
CBA_caption
11th Apr 2006, 20:59
BluntM8,
I think jimgriff is tlking about making them look shiney for his museum/amassed personal collection. See his website in his personal profile. Call me a bluff old traditionalist, but when the lean team get as far as recycling ejection seats I'll be pulling the proverbial yeller n' black!
Anyone else found their mouse strangely drawn to that option on JPA? It's too easy.
CBA
Onan the Clumsy
11th Apr 2006, 23:51
The arm restraints ... covered in a light coloured sleeve...They are a total bugger to replace when one tries to rebuild a seat post ejection...
Good job they're not covered with a brown sleeve or you'd never be able to find them, post ejection :ugh:
jimgriff
12th Apr 2006, 08:03
NO NO NO!! They are not rebuilt for re use.......Stupid Boy!!:p
As explained a rebuild post ejection is not likely as the seat is part of the post crash enquiry and is unlikey to resurface "on civvy street", but it is not unknown. They are usually pretty bent on the sudden landing!!!
I have rebuilt a couple of post ejection seats, but scavenging them for parts for display models for the "collection" is the norm.
Mutter mutter! Rebuilt for reuse......!!!???!?!?:hmm:
BluntM8
12th Apr 2006, 11:41
When the lean team get as far as recycling ejection seats I'll be pulling the proverbial yeller n' black!
Okay...sorry! Bit of a brain fart on my behalf.
However, I've just left Leuchars where half the engineers were talking about what they could salvage from the F3 they fished out from the Eden Estuary!
Jimgriff, I've got a seat firing handle gathering dust here. Would you like it? PM me and I'll whack it in the post.
jimgriff
12th Apr 2006, 12:02
Bluntm8
Check your PM's!
:ok:
Any contributions to the collection are always welcome:O