Originally Posted by
sandiego89
But I guess it is OK for other airframes?????
Seats have been going through the canopy, or assisted with minature det cord for decades, and many airframes have tight clearances.....
No kidding, I may have flown a few. It's also worth of note that not all are cleared for immersion suits when the canopy disintegration process is suboptimal. But the trick with the F-35B is that its ejection envelope has to cope with far more than a regular aircraft.
Engine's post eloquently outlined the history where more and more project 'risk' was introduced into the escape system due to various reasons; usually to offset other issues. There was much resistance to this from a number of well-educated corners of the room, but the matter was to be finally settled during testing.
What happened next is not covered in Engine's post - the test program was then curtailed considerably. Of course, it did not help that the USAF were not particularly interested in the 'weird and wacky' ejection envelop required for the B or the expensive testing required.
Project 'risk' has turned into actual risk for the pink bodies. The first high yaw rate combined with nose-down pitch ejection will happen with a real fleshy thing strapped to the seat with SMEs clutching their models that suggest that the outcome is not assured.
We have become rather adept at ignoring some very capable engineers when projects start to slide.