Originally Posted by
cwatters
Which got me thinking... I know the eject motor need to produce high g when the plane is going fast but what about when it's going slower? Do modern ejector seats have variable power to minimise spinal injury or is it an all or nothing shot? Are most of the ejections these days low speed peacetime events?
Unfortunately not! It's not so much the speed in a straight line that is the killer, it's high rates of descent close to the ground where the ejection process doesn't have time to complete fully (.ie shute doesn't deploy). Would be nice to be able to turn a dial for a premeditated ejection (not saying this one was) to a leisurely 10G! In the case of the Tornado however, you do have an enormous Fin to clear! Modern seats are much more 'spine friendly' and accelerate the seat in stages as oppossed to the mighy 25G bang seats of old which was instant! In terms of what types of ejections are most common they vary hugely. Most emergencies that are internal to the aircraft will provide an amount of time to slow the aircraft down or gain some extra height. Some emergences however, such as control problems may require an instant ejection. External factors such as mid-air collisions/bird or wire strikes vary widely but you may only have a split second to decide if the aircraft is still controlable. So really....how long is a piece of string.........