albert_smith Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 My career for over twenty years was in the area of aircrew escape systems for high performance aircraft (yes, that is a job!), and usually when one of our systems is used, it is not recorded with great pictures, unless it is at some air show where there are many video cameras.<P> Late last year a USAF F-16 crashed during an air show in Idaho. There was indeed video, but it was shaky and not very well shot. The best picture from that day, and maybe one of the best pictures I have seen of an actual ejection (not on the test sled) was recorded by the USAF photographer with a still digital Nikon and 300mm lens.<P> Go to the link below, and scroll down to see the small thumb of a head-on view of the ejection. Next to that is a "this page" link (inside of the paragraph) where the full narrative of the shot with photo credit and technical info is shown. Film, digital... it doesn't matter, this is a great Nikon shot!<P> <a href="http://www.ejectionsite.com/"> Link </a> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_petit_bianco Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 f/16 and be there. Sorry, I couldn't resit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_gifford Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_bradtke Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Man what a cool pic.It sure looks like a wild ride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucas_griego Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Impressive. Outrageous story as well. Talk about a nightmare of a situation. Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Currie Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 I saw a video of this somewhere else, but I'm glad to see this version, not only because of that spectacular still, but because the version floating around the web didn't tell mention that the pilot survived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris haake Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Holy Shnykies! Give that man a beer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ist_petit Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 My heart returned to its place when I read that the pilot survived and had small injury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Albert, do you use det cord to blow the window? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert_smith Posted February 18, 2004 Author Share Posted February 18, 2004 <I>Albert, do you use det cord to blow the window?</I><P> Some aircraft do use det cord to shatter the canopy, but on the F-16 in this event, it is jettisoned from the aircraft as a single unit. The canopy has to go before the seat, so there are lanyards that spool out for 10 feet and then fire explosives to continue the seat sequence. The canopy is separated by small rockets in the leading edges after an explosive bolts fires to disconnect it from the aircraft structure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert_Lai Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Albert:<p>A spectacular picture! I'm glad the pilot made it out of there intact.<p>Reading the description on the site, I understand that the canopy has to fly off first. This then pulls on a lanyard which actuates the rest of the firing sequence. But here's a question that occured to my mind. These planes are built for combat. Suppose that during a dogfight the canopy was smashed, or the lanyard was cut by bullets. If the pilot is still alive to eject, is there a backup mechanism if the canopy won't fly off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shafeeq_sinnamohideen2 Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 On many aircraft, the backup is that the part of the seat that extends above the pilot's head is designed to punch through the canopy on the way out. Not sure if the F-16 is one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert_smith Posted February 18, 2004 Author Share Posted February 18, 2004 <I>Suppose that during a dogfight the canopy was smashed, or the lanyard was cut by bullets. If the pilot is still alive to eject, is there a backup mechanism if the canopy won't fly off?</I><P> There have been situations with the F-16 where the lanyards were damged (in a mid-air collision) and the pilot Died even though the canopy did jettison. In the 1980s, we modified the lanyard system to make it redundant and able to work even if the canopy is sheared off at an unusual angle... but on the F-16, the canopy has to come off for the seat to fire. On other aircraft (F-15, A-10), there are canopy breakers on the seat to break the plexiglass if the canopy does not separate, but these aircraft have very thin glass that is bowed into a frame. The F-16 glass is very thick and a single piece (no wind screen and overhead section like the F-15) molded into shape, it won't break clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayne_cornell1 Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 My brother-in-law was at the show. Said it happened so fast most spectators didn't realize it had happened until they saw the ball of fire and a parachute floating down. BTW, pilot apparently started his maneuver too low and ran out of air--forgot to set his altimeter or something along that line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Albert, does this have anything to do with Quantic? What keeps the pilots face/body safe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert_smith Posted February 19, 2004 Author Share Posted February 19, 2004 <I>What keeps the pilots face/body safe?</I><P> Many different systems out there, but essentially the face is protected by the helmet, visor and O2 mask. At some airspeeds, the helmet sometimes is ripped off by the initial airblast. On some aircraft, there is a face-curtain to activate the ejection, where a canvas curtain is pulled down over the face to protect from air-blast and helmet loss. The body is held in place by the seat structure, and on some systems, there are leg restraints that hold the legs in to protect from flail injuries.<P> After many tests on rocket sleds, the highest speed where flail damage and bodily injuries consistantly occur (measured on a dummy with sensors), the upper limit is then stated as within the envelope. Ejections that are initiated out of the envelope are not a good thing... too fast, too low with sink rate, inverted at low altitude, ect...<P> Sorry if this is getting off topic, the initial post was about a Nikon camera used in a fast breaking situation with great success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 you're right, I should of emailed you off line with my curriosity i guess. Thanks Albert, great link and pic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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