EJECTION SEAT SAGA REDEFINING THE NEW NORMAL OF COMBAT AVIATION

The Collins ACES II ® ’s stable, 9-13 G catapult at ambient temperatures is also important when the pilot is operating aircraft in hot environments. High temperatures affect the acceleration during the catapult phase and when the risks of spinal injuries tremendously increase around 20 G’s, having some buffer will ensure pilot safety, writes DON BORCHELT

- DON BORCHELT

The Evolution Of The Ejection Seat

In barely more than a century, the world of aviation safety has progressed incredibly. In the book “Flying”, written by Gustav Hamel and Charles Cyril Turner in 1914, the authors present several treatises on early aircraft safety wherein they debate crash-resistant wicker cockpits and the merits of whether it’s better to use a seat belt, or if it’s better to be thrown free of the cockpit when crash-landing. Later in the book, another aviation pioneer, Henry Farman said about flying “it will be so safe that we shall hear no more of the need to carry parachutes or other safety devices, for the contingency of having to abandon the machine in the air will seem an absurdity to contemplate.”

The world of combat aviation has made tremendous gains in safety and mishap prevention. Accordingly, the ejection seat has continued to evolve as a critical component of modern combat and trainer aircraft. Previously, aircraft manufacturers were responsible to design and installation of ejection seats into their aircraft. However, after some introspection and incident analysis, authorities came to realise that ejection seats had wildly different performance characteristics. Further, while ejection seats were saving lives, their instability and other basic design characteristics resulted in frequent injuries to the pilot. Survival may seem by some the sole raison d'être of an ejection seat, but for combat aircraft potentially operating in contested areas, hostile environments or remote mountainous locations, the ability to deliver the pilot safely uninjured to the ground is critical. The aircrew must be able to immediately seek shelter, use the radio to call for rescue, and if required by the situation, to be able to escape and evade capture while doing so.