Side by side ejection seat question
"The F-4 had a sort of potential nasty where if the rear seater pulled the handle just before the front seater the rear seater would be going up the rails just as the front seat canopy ejected.... the rear seater would quite possibly "collect" the canopy with probably fatal results. "
This was in fact a real nasty - XV397 on 1 June 1973. The navigator who had initiated ejection first was struck by the pilot's canopy. Thereafter, the RAF Phantom sop was for the pilot to announce the need for ejection by doing so.
This was in fact a real nasty - XV397 on 1 June 1973. The navigator who had initiated ejection first was struck by the pilot's canopy. Thereafter, the RAF Phantom sop was for the pilot to announce the need for ejection by doing so.
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Stilton
I don't have any definitive information but a U2 (T-bird) crashed in September 2016 in California the instructor was killed even when video shot at the time showed two ejections and two parachutes, which appeared to have opened normally at a good height (i.e. well above the ground).
I can only speculate that the rear seater may have struck the front seater's canopy (or his seat) and being killed as a result. There's a thread on PPruNe with the photos I refer to. I have not seen any accident report published but I am hardly going to be on a distribution list to receive one!
MB
I don't have any definitive information but a U2 (T-bird) crashed in September 2016 in California the instructor was killed even when video shot at the time showed two ejections and two parachutes, which appeared to have opened normally at a good height (i.e. well above the ground).
I can only speculate that the rear seater may have struck the front seater's canopy (or his seat) and being killed as a result. There's a thread on PPruNe with the photos I refer to. I have not seen any accident report published but I am hardly going to be on a distribution list to receive one!
MB
This was in fact a real nasty
Yes, I was aware that there had indeed been sadly been a real case on the RAF F-4 of a front canopy/rear seat occupant collision with fatal results.........
the RAF Phantom sop was for the pilot to announce the need for ejection by doing so.
Of course it didn't always quite work out as briefed...
stilton...<< ......even killed if the system is not operated as planned>>.
HQ: "I think that is a standard consequence of (military) aviation".
HQ: "I think that is a standard consequence of (military) aviation".
Last edited by wiggy; 2nd Mar 2017 at 12:20.
Not so in the GR4. Whoever pulls the handle the back seater goes first (0.3 secs delay) and then the front seater (0.7 secs delay). And the trajectories are offset left and right.