he majority of fast
jet pilots would
agree that the most
important part of their aircraft
is the ejection seat.
‘Banging out’, as it’s sometimes
called, is usually the only option
when staying with your aircraft
would likely lead to death. Pilots
who have ejected often speak of
the apparent eternity between
pulling the ejection handle and
being jettisoned – in reality it’s
around a tenth of a second.
The pilot or rear-seater is then
propelled through the canopy with
a force of between 15 and 20g.
If they keep their arms tucked
in, and with their legs restrained
by a harness at the bottom of
the seat, they should escape
harm during ejection. A helmet
with the visor down provides
protection for their head and face.
After around two seconds,
depending on altitude, the
parachute opens, and the seat
falls clear of the pilot, who will
now float down to earth.
Unfortunately, ejection is
not always successful. There
have been tragic accounts of
pilots with longer torsos who
have been killed on ejecting
through the canopy, and there
needs to be adequate space –
typically at least three fingers’
worth – between the helmet
and canopy so that the seat’s
breaker smashes the glass first.
However, a more common reason
for failure is ejection outside a
seat’s specific safety envelope.
These days, most high-tech
models are described as ‘zero-
zero’, which means they permit
ejection at zero speed and zero
feet altitude, giving pilots a degreeof confidence they could escape if
required during take-off or landing.
A stunning photo of a Royal Air
Force pilot ejecting from a Harrier
GR9 at Kandahar, Afghanistan,
back in 2009 shows his departure
as the stricken aircraft skids
across the ground. Martin-
Baker still uses the image today
whenever it’s marketing the
capabilities of its escape systems.
Some aircraft, including the
F-111 and B-1A, were designed
with a crew escape module rather
than individual seats. For these
supersonic bombers, the US Air
Force included a requirement for
emergency crew extraction at 100ft
(30m) and Mach 1. After departure
from the aircraft’s fuselage, the
crew members, still strapped
into their seats, would float down
to earth within the capsule. If it
came down into the sea a flotationsystem would prevent it sinking.
Today, however, there are
no crew escape modules in
operational use, and ejection
seats are produced by
manufacturers around the world,
including the Aviation Industry
Corporation of China (AVIC),
Russia’s Zvezda, UTC Aerospace
Systems in the US and, of
course, the UK’s Martin-Baker.
The British company, located
just inside London’s main M25
ring road, is the world’s leading
escape systems specialist with a
53% share of the market. At its
base at the end of a leafy housing
estate in the country, 18 types of
ejection seats have been designed
and built since 1945. More than
90,000 of them have served 95
air forces, saving 7,500-plus
lives, and more than 17,000 are in
service around the world today.T
Left: This sequence shows the
function of the Martin-Baker Mk18
seat from a test rig. The company
has developed the seat to meet the
emerging Next Generation Escape
System requirement and it’s also
designed to be fully compliant with
all USAF T-X programme contenders.
Martin-Baker
The pilot of an RAF Harrier GR9
escapes over the runway at
Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan
in May 2009. As the jet slid along
the tarmac, the pilot turned the
aircraft away from a formation of
four aircraft waiting to take off,
then ejected as it slowed down, but
before coming to a stop. A fire then
engulfed the entire aircraft. Martin-
BakerAbove: How to eject from an F-16. The pilot pulls the yellow handle, starting an explosive chain of events in the
cockpit. This begins with the canopy blasting off the aircraft, giving just enough time for the seat itself to rocket out of
the framework before putting the pilot through forces of 14g. USAF/Airman 1st Class Patrick S Ciccarone#363 JUNE 2018 // 31Airforces
Intelligence‘In association with ....’