VIDEO: MB Musickal Chair Lifting

[SpazSinbad]

Martin-Baker ejection seats Jul 1, 2014
"Almost 70 years ago, a pioneering British company performed the first test of an innovation which was to transform the cockpit of the jet fighter, and has since saved the lives of thousands of pilots."

Martin-Baker ejection seats - YouTube

[Just This Once...]

A worrying difference in performance between the front and rear seat given the near-identical conditions.

[NutLoose]

Good that,really shows how it chucks the pilots out both directions as well.

[RAFEngO74to09]

Great invention - really enjoyed my tour as a fast-jet base OC Armament which in those days included responsibility for an Ejection Seat Bay doing 6-monthly maintenance. I was even able to view them being used successfully from my office window in the Phantom era when runway departures across the bondhu due to nose-wheel steering faults were a regular occurrence. No dissatisfied customers thankfully.

More videos available to view at the M-B site: http://www.martin-baker.com/ejection-media#prettyPhoto

and on their You Tube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/martinbakeraircraft/videos

[Brian Abraham]

Do the manufactures still make live tests? Bernard Lynch of M-B made a total of 31 test ejections, presumably all from the Meteor test bed. Does Bernard also hold the record for the most ejections? Brave man.

[HTB]

B A

I don't recall exactly when they stopped, but live testing of seats is no longer carried out. The variety of test equipment and associated telemetry is a far better indicator of seat performance and generic effects on the fragile user.

M-B have a couple of sites for manufacture/assembly and testing of seats: Langford Lodge in NI has a rocket sledge/rail test track; Chalgrove in Oxon has a number of static test rigs, and they also conduct drop tests from helicopters, and "live" ejections of a dummy from the back seat of their two Meteors (at least they had two when I last carried out a CAA aerodrome inspection in 2008). Again, all these activities are monitored elctronically and filmed from many angles.

The company UK HQ is at Denham, where I think they might also have a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility.

Mister B

[John Farley]

Just This Once.

Looks normal to me. Heaviest spec dummy in the front, lightest ditto in the back. Normal test procedure to show acceptable perf over the crew weight range.