That changing the Barostatic Release Units business sounds like a good idea.
Back on the 'V' Force, I spent some time encarcerated in Waddington's 'Gin Palace' working in the Instrument Calibration Laboratory. One of my incredibly boring tasks was testing the Barostatic Release Units for the ejection seats and the rear crew parachute packs. The parachute BRUs were all set the same - a 10,500' +/- 500' barostatic trigger initiated a three second timer. The device then fired a spring loaded plunger that pulled the ripcord. Ejection seats had a separate BRU that triggered separation from the seat at 12,500' +/- 500' The user could always override the devices by pulling either the seat release and/or the ripcord handle manually if he was conscious and so inclined.
BTW, in a high altitude abandonment, rear crew members would have had difficulty finding the holes in the snow made by their pilots, due to the difficulty of climbing out of their own great smoking hole in the ground. The chances of being able to get out at high altitude and ride silk were extremely remote.
After alighting on Mother Earth, any surviving pilots would of course have to face the Crew Chief and explain what happened to his beautiful piece of aeronautical machinery. Most would have preferred death to that...
