Failed Ejections
 

Hi All !

I lived through a failed ejection on a Mig19 in a spin.One of the two canopy thrusters failed to fire,so the canopy was de-railed and off-centered, but still attached,so the seat could not fire!
I wonder if there is any record of similar occurances. Though my incident was about 36 years ago, would love to hear from anyone with such good luck!

Cheers,
:)

Was it one of those rubber MiGs that bounces? Clever chaps, the Ruskies. Invented the pencil.

Didn't one of the Synchro pair have a lucky escape from a Hawk when he cocked-up the opposition 'heart' whilst practicing in Cyprus. Forget his name, but I think Phil Tolman was Synchro lead. Believe the seat was 'ejected' by the impact but the chute opened and he survived. (Was it Hirst/Hurst, or was that another accident?)

Philleas,

The following website might be of interest to you?

http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/

H,

The details are on this page

http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/A...RED_ARROWS.htm

Umm
RAF F-4 in Germany, 70's I think where the back seater ejected first and the pilot then was unable to eject because "sucK' prevented the canopy thrusters from shoving the canopy clear, hence the front seaters seat was inhibited by the canopy interlock. As far As as I recall it he got the seat to fire eventually...no doubt someone will fill in the gaps or correct the story. Seem to remember this resulted in improved canopy "thrusters":E and also the recommendation for the front seater to eject first ( are you there Nick?...Nick?... Nick..:uhoh:)

Wasn't there also a Lightning incident around the same time, where a mid-air collision resulted in a failed ejection due jammed canopy? The pilot managed to land the thing.

All from memory, all probably wrong!!! Must rush - off to argue about heroic things such as locked flight deck doors elsewhere:ugh::ugh::ugh:

And where are you mailing from, Phileas? ;)
Phinish your story, please!

I remember picking up the pieces of that one (1983/4?). It was the first practice of the detatchment. Rumour was the seat was set off when it hit the ground, though the cockpit area survived in one big lump so maybe he would have been okay had he remained in situe.

Hi Wiggy,

I haven't seen Nick in a while, but when I last saw him he was workirg at a secret location in Hampshire, not a million miles from Farnborough, dealing with top secret rockets and such.

Good luck with the locked doors!!

I seem to recall a Vulcan accident in which the pilot(s) stayed put to get the rear crew out and were very close to the lower limits of the ejection seat envelope when they ejected. One pilot was saved by landing with his parachute tangled in some high tension power lines? Anglesey in the 60s possibly?

A2QFI

I think XM604 Cottesmore '68

Vulcan 604. Cottesmore. From Board of Enquiry.

Utilisation of Escape Facilities. Captain. The aircraft had rolled to port through at least 90 degrees but not more than 120 degrees, with a nose down angle of between 15 and 20 degrees when the Captain ejected from an approximate height of 300 feet by pulling the face blind. The blind partially covered the right side of his face because he only used his right hand to pull the face screen firing handle. Due to the attitude of the aircraft and the low height at the time of ejection the parachute had only streamed when the pilot passed through high tension cables close to the scene of the accident. The canopy caught one cable, pulled that cable onto the next one and caused an electrical short. This fused the nylon panels together which acted as a brake, and the pilot was lowered to the ground. As his feet touched he undid the quick release box and walked away.
-------
The cables were the utility supply to a farm house, the only overheads for miles!

I witnessed the Red Arrows crash at Akrotiri in March 1984. Though we lost sight of the aircraft behind the tower momentarily, it impacted the ground causing damage to the seat, amongst other things. As the aircraft came back into our view we saw the parachute deploy just prior to the second impact and fireball. Believe the rocket pack didn't fire and the pilot was dragged backwards out of the aircraft by the parachute deploying into the airstream. Looking at the wreckage afterwards I dont believe the pilot would have survived had he stayed with the aircraft.

http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/A...RED_ARROWS.htm

Morning maxburner, please give my rgds to Nick if you see him.

As to ejections on the limit - ? A Jag ejection right on or perhaps beyond the seat limits where the drogue deployment was speeded up because the drogue bullet went through the ejected cockpit canopy, which then proceeded to drag drogue chute and then main much faster than spec.

Must get into the online database's when I'm away and see if I can find any confirmation - right, off to lock my door :{

A well known incident, but worth another mention:

http://www.gallagher.com/ejection_seat/index.htm

Philleas,

Just curious, but were you one of the Albanian pilots who defected to Italy during the 90s? I believe the pilots flew a MiG-15 trainer to Italy?

There was also an incident at Marham, some years back, involving a 100 Sqn Canberra. During an overshoot, (asymmetric, IIRC), the aircraft crashed into the runway threshold, cartwheeling along the ground and during this process, flinging out the crewmembers. I believe at least one of the crew may have attempted to eject during the crash, but at any rate, all 3 crew survived, with 1 of the navs simply walking away from the wreckage.

Wiggy, if the Jaguar incident you refer to was in Germany, yes the drogue chute went through the frame of the canopy (the perspex shattered as the canopy flexed). However, this didn't speed up the chute deployment, the ejection was in parameters--just. I do know this for a fact as I was on the board.

The Arrows prang at Akrotiri was Curly Hirst

The Lightning involved in the collision was on an exchange in France and the mid-air was with a Mirage. As stated, the damaged seat wouldn't fire so he formated on a Mirage to get VMC below.

Perhaps the unluckiest was another Lightning. Both engines were lost and an ejection attempt was made. The canopy would not leave he aircraft as a bolt in the system malfunctioned, leaving the by now twisted canopy attached at one side. He managed to dead stick it into a field but hit a tree. The collision with the tree made the canopy come off, the seat now fired with diastrous consequences, being a 90kt S&L seat--just how unlucky can you get.

A very lucky one was the two Patrouille de France Alpha Jets that had a mid-air doing an opposition loop. The wingtip of one hit the other's front seat, impacting the scissor shackle thingys on the top and firing the drogue, pulling the guy out, he survived.

IIRC there were infact 4 persons on board, they had been on a landaway for a wedding! The accident occured at the end of a rather tight VRIAB. Got a little low/slow on finals and then asymmetric thrust (slow and uneven rpm rise from the RR Avons) caused some roll/yaw. This was corrected, but then made worse by a bigger roll/yaw in the other direction. The ac hit the ORP abeam the 24 threshold with about 80deg right bank. The nose section broke off as the ac slid to a halt. Some of the crew were flung from the wreckage, but the injuries were not too serious. A spotter took a series of pictures that showed the final moments, I'll try to find them.

:)

Come on then, Plilleas. If the ejection failed, how did you survive??