Using Ejector Seats Underwater
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Using Ejector Seats Underwater
I was browsing British Pathe's newsreel site and came across this news clip which shows a FAA Scimitar suffering arrester failure on HMS Victorious and rolling off the deck into the sea. Sadly the pilot concerned, Commander J D Russell was drowned, but wonder why he didn't use his ejector seat to get clear?
The clip can be seen here:
NAVAL PILOT KILLED - British Pathé
The clip can be seen here:
NAVAL PILOT KILLED - British Pathé
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I don't know any details of the system, but the A4 Skyhawk had an underwater eject facility. I knew an RAN A4 driver who suffered a cold cat launch and dribbled into the oggin off the bow of HMAS Melbourne. He said he had to stay in the cockpit as he watched the ship steam over him and then eject.
He said he was ~90' underwater by the time the ship cleared him (and it was getting very, VERY dark) and all the while, he kept thanking God it wasn't USS Enterprise he was waiting to pass over him.
He said he was ~90' underwater by the time the ship cleared him (and it was getting very, VERY dark) and all the while, he kept thanking God it wasn't USS Enterprise he was waiting to pass over him.
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USA instruction video
Stock Footage - Safe underwater ejection from a downed fighter jet.
YAK-38 underwater ejection
Stock Footage - Safe underwater ejection from a downed fighter jet.
YAK-38 underwater ejection
Last edited by Milo Minderbinder; 14th Feb 2013 at 00:32.
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Cold Cat A4G 889 Pilot Escape Underwater OK - Beforehand Canopy Gone
'Andu' said: "I don't know any details of the system, but the A4 Skyhawk had an underwater eject facility. I knew an RAN A4 driver who suffered a cold cat launch and dribbled into the oggin off the bow of HMAS Melbourne. He said he had to stay in the cockpit as he watched the ship steam over him and then eject.
He said he was ~90' underwater by the time the ship cleared him (and it was getting very, VERY dark) and all the while, he kept thanking God it wasn't USS Enterprise he was waiting to pass over him."
Not really the full picture concerning the loss of A4G 889 via a cold cat from HMAS Melbourne. There is a video of the accident available - I'll post a link soon. Briefly the pilot (known to me - telling the story with copious arm waving and ejection handle NOT pulling) when he arrived back at NAS Nowra. What he attempted to do was eject but for various reasons (including as the aircraft tipped over the front) the sequence stopped at the canopy phase so only it left the aircraft as he went over the front.
Yes he waited for the props to go past as during the descent (breathing emergency oxygen) the aircraft 889 scraped the side briefly. Anyway once he sensed the screws had past he escaped, used the MaeWest to get to the surface because once he left the cockpit unencumbered there was no more oxygen. The Wessex 'Pedro' Helo rescue aircrewman later commented that he literally popped out of the water. What a great sight for everyone.
On the left side of the Skyhawk cockpit there is a large round insert which is the pressure relief valve to equalise the pressure inside and out when underwater so that the pilot can open the canopy. I don't know of any underwater ejections as such but a search of the internet might find some.
This 8 minute greyscale silent video shows initially Barry entering the cockpit of an A4G and closing the canopy, however it is not 889 of that fateful day. Later during a series of catapults we see his cold cat and rescue for him to be stretchered then allowed to stand and walk.
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=cbcd6...340707E6%21293
.WMV Video 38Mb "A4G_Ops_Melbourne_8min.wmv"
If youse like loud music the same video is there in same folder 'A4G Skyhawk RAN FAA VIDEOS' with a TOOL soundtrack.
He said he was ~90' underwater by the time the ship cleared him (and it was getting very, VERY dark) and all the while, he kept thanking God it wasn't USS Enterprise he was waiting to pass over him."
Not really the full picture concerning the loss of A4G 889 via a cold cat from HMAS Melbourne. There is a video of the accident available - I'll post a link soon. Briefly the pilot (known to me - telling the story with copious arm waving and ejection handle NOT pulling) when he arrived back at NAS Nowra. What he attempted to do was eject but for various reasons (including as the aircraft tipped over the front) the sequence stopped at the canopy phase so only it left the aircraft as he went over the front.
Yes he waited for the props to go past as during the descent (breathing emergency oxygen) the aircraft 889 scraped the side briefly. Anyway once he sensed the screws had past he escaped, used the MaeWest to get to the surface because once he left the cockpit unencumbered there was no more oxygen. The Wessex 'Pedro' Helo rescue aircrewman later commented that he literally popped out of the water. What a great sight for everyone.
On the left side of the Skyhawk cockpit there is a large round insert which is the pressure relief valve to equalise the pressure inside and out when underwater so that the pilot can open the canopy. I don't know of any underwater ejections as such but a search of the internet might find some.
This 8 minute greyscale silent video shows initially Barry entering the cockpit of an A4G and closing the canopy, however it is not 889 of that fateful day. Later during a series of catapults we see his cold cat and rescue for him to be stretchered then allowed to stand and walk.
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=cbcd6...340707E6%21293
.WMV Video 38Mb "A4G_Ops_Melbourne_8min.wmv"
If youse like loud music the same video is there in same folder 'A4G Skyhawk RAN FAA VIDEOS' with a TOOL soundtrack.
Last edited by SpazSinbad; 14th Feb 2013 at 04:32. Reason: Video Link
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Poor quality JPG made from poor quality film shows only the canopy being jettison as part of a partial ejection attempt. To learn more download the 50Mb PDF here:
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=cbcd6...340707E6%21119
A4G_Skyhawk_889_pp87.PDF (49Mb) in 'FAA A-4G Skyhawk RAN PDFs' Folder
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=cbcd6...340707E6%21119
A4G_Skyhawk_889_pp87.PDF (49Mb) in 'FAA A-4G Skyhawk RAN PDFs' Folder
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Yep and what another nice chap! 
Youse will find his chair lifting abilities in the PDF about RAN FAA A4G 885 in the same directory you may find the 889 story on SkyDrive. But that is another story. There are only 20 T/A4G stories so it is all easy colour and movement as/if required.
Youse will find his chair lifting abilities in the PDF about RAN FAA A4G 885 in the same directory you may find the 889 story on SkyDrive. But that is another story. There are only 20 T/A4G stories so it is all easy colour and movement as/if required.
Last edited by SpazSinbad; 14th Feb 2013 at 06:43. Reason: as if
The navy Buccs used to have an underwater system, all the seat componants activated bar the main gun explosive carts. Compressed gasses were used instead to extend the tubes to push the seat up the rails in slow motion compared to normal ejection. Just enough to get the aircrew out of the cockpit and released from the seat. Later RAF ac ejection guns still had the fitting for the gas pipe which was blancked off.
I remember reading a story about a Westland Wyvern from HMS Albion, ditching after a flameout during catapulting. The pilot successfully ejected from under water. Mid 50s.
Arrakis
Arrakis
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For 'ARRAKIS': What an excellent book of tales it is too....
pp.55–57 ‘FLY NAVY — The View from the Cockpit, 1945–2000’
edited by Lcdr Charles K. Manning AFC, RN
Published on behalf of the Fleet Air Arm Officers’ Association
Commander Mike Crosley DSC*, Test Pilot, Commanding Officer 813 Squadron, HMS Albion and Eagle, 1954 Commanding Officer Naval Test Squadron, Boscombe Down, 1960–63
"...‘The next instant I hit the sea at about 70 knots, wheels down, of course, and flaps in the take-off position. I knew that the Wyvern had very poor ditching characteristics and I had in fact witnessed a fatal ditching about 18 months ago when the Wyvern had entered the sea and disappeared immediately without any hesitation at all before sinking.
‘This memory flashed through my mind just before hitting the sea and I felt that I had no chance of escape. The impact with the sea stunned me to some extent.
‘When I had collected my wits again I was under water and it was getting darker. My nervous system seemed to have disconnected my body from my brain — except for my left hand. The yellow ‘Emergency Canopy jettison’ knob filled my whole vision. I was grateful for its colour and position. I hit it with my left hand and the canopy became unlocked and green water poured in all around its edges. I did not notice the canopy actually go and it may have been more or less in position when I ejected. I pulled the ejector seat ‘blind’ handle with my left hand immediately after hitting the hood jettison lever.
‘Tears on my flying overall and on my Mae West could have been caused by the ejection up through the canopy. I was wearing a crash helmet (bone dome) and the actual jettison seemed identical to the practice we had on the test rig. I then pulled the firing handle once more to fire the seat. I blacked out immediately and the next awareness was of being out of the aircraft. Ejection did not bring me out on the surface — from a position when I fired the seat perhaps 20 feet under and with the cockpit at about 30 degrees nose down....
...For the first time I had a desperate need for air; I tried to swim upward. I suddenly remembered my Mae West and I pulled the toggle to inflate it. I popped up like a cork, into the sunshine. I surfaced astern and to port, about 200 yards from the ship. The helicopter with the strop lowered was already there waiting for me.
‘My overall conviction from this was that but for the ejector seat I would never have got out of the aircraft as the water pressure would have held the canopy on and I could not have lifted it. My experience on the ‘practice’ ejector seat rig was much appreciated...."
pp.55–57 ‘FLY NAVY — The View from the Cockpit, 1945–2000’
edited by Lcdr Charles K. Manning AFC, RN
Published on behalf of the Fleet Air Arm Officers’ Association
Commander Mike Crosley DSC*, Test Pilot, Commanding Officer 813 Squadron, HMS Albion and Eagle, 1954 Commanding Officer Naval Test Squadron, Boscombe Down, 1960–63
"...‘The next instant I hit the sea at about 70 knots, wheels down, of course, and flaps in the take-off position. I knew that the Wyvern had very poor ditching characteristics and I had in fact witnessed a fatal ditching about 18 months ago when the Wyvern had entered the sea and disappeared immediately without any hesitation at all before sinking.
‘This memory flashed through my mind just before hitting the sea and I felt that I had no chance of escape. The impact with the sea stunned me to some extent.
‘When I had collected my wits again I was under water and it was getting darker. My nervous system seemed to have disconnected my body from my brain — except for my left hand. The yellow ‘Emergency Canopy jettison’ knob filled my whole vision. I was grateful for its colour and position. I hit it with my left hand and the canopy became unlocked and green water poured in all around its edges. I did not notice the canopy actually go and it may have been more or less in position when I ejected. I pulled the ejector seat ‘blind’ handle with my left hand immediately after hitting the hood jettison lever.
‘Tears on my flying overall and on my Mae West could have been caused by the ejection up through the canopy. I was wearing a crash helmet (bone dome) and the actual jettison seemed identical to the practice we had on the test rig. I then pulled the firing handle once more to fire the seat. I blacked out immediately and the next awareness was of being out of the aircraft. Ejection did not bring me out on the surface — from a position when I fired the seat perhaps 20 feet under and with the cockpit at about 30 degrees nose down....
...For the first time I had a desperate need for air; I tried to swim upward. I suddenly remembered my Mae West and I pulled the toggle to inflate it. I popped up like a cork, into the sunshine. I surfaced astern and to port, about 200 yards from the ship. The helicopter with the strop lowered was already there waiting for me.
‘My overall conviction from this was that but for the ejector seat I would never have got out of the aircraft as the water pressure would have held the canopy on and I could not have lifted it. My experience on the ‘practice’ ejector seat rig was much appreciated...."
Last edited by SpazSinbad; 14th Feb 2013 at 11:06. Reason: name
wasn't the McFarlane incident the same, off the end of the deck, sank and pulling the seat activation, the seat due to barostats, popped the canopy and inflated the life-jacket.
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There is a good book called "Bit of a Tiff "which tells of the ejections of Lyn Middleton from Hms Eagle in 1956 from 2 Seahawks 897/899 squadrons the first being underwater as the ship passed over him the seconed one being dunked in the sea when the cat broke on launch
PS to D buccaneers only had underwater ejection fitted to aircraft from 65 onwards!!!!!!
PS to D buccaneers only had underwater ejection fitted to aircraft from 65 onwards!!!!!!
Last edited by david parry; 14th Feb 2013 at 14:04.
dctyke,
The Buccaneer underwater escape system was developed using dead sheep as test subjects. The test reports used to be recommended reading for any new members of Flight Systems Department at Brough. Unfortunately all the Buccaneer and Phantom files have now been disposed of so we can no longer while away a few minutes reading about aviation history.
Walbut
The Buccaneer underwater escape system was developed using dead sheep as test subjects. The test reports used to be recommended reading for any new members of Flight Systems Department at Brough. Unfortunately all the Buccaneer and Phantom files have now been disposed of so we can no longer while away a few minutes reading about aviation history.
Walbut
Last edited by walbut; 14th Feb 2013 at 17:35.
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another "howto" training film, this time showing closeups of a test underwater ejection
Stock Footage - A pilot ejects from a test jet that has been plunged into water.
Stock Footage - A pilot ejects from a test jet that has been plunged into water.
I seem to remember the last time the vid in Post 1 appeared on PPRuNe it was
pulled pdq, bad taste