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Old 31st Jul 2015, 17:39
  #16 (permalink)  
KenV
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: New Braunfels, TX
Age: 70
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Sorry to ask such a question on this thread (if you don't ask, you don't learn), but KenV and Swil, how did the ejection its self feel? Was it painful? Or didn't you feel much due to being pumped full of adrenaline?
Very hard to describe. Time dilation was huge for me. When I pulled the face curtain (upper handles on the ESCAPAC seat) it seemed like it took forever for the canopy to jettison and the seat to fire. The ride up the tube (the ESCAPAC rides on a sort of extending tube the first few feet) seemed slow. After that everything is a blur because my body hit the airstream and started flailing and the seat went unstable and began a tumble. But seat/man separation was successful as was drogue and then chute deployment. The sensation was nothing like the ejection seat simulators we were required to ride annually. But I did have the presence of mind to remember post ejection procedures after the chute opened, although I did not have time to complete them. Those procedures vary depending on whether you eject over land or over water.

Visor: down overland, up overwater
Oxygen mask: loose/off overland, cinched tight overwater
Gloves: on overland, off overwater.
Seat pan: release both overland or overwater.

I think there was another procedure when ejecting underwater, but for the life of me I can't remember it.

Here's a link to an old training film about making the ejection decision and why you don't want to wait too long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa1Ba_NEobs
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