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http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=28e_1275619112

Ouch! I wonder if had reported tech probs before that landing. If not, he will have to answer even more questions than he will probably have to, anyway.

It looks like the jet was armed. What's the standard procedure in such a case? From the video, it seems as if the firefighters were somewhat uncertain - they did try to fight the fire, but at the same time, seemed to keep as much as distance as possible.

A few observations:

They don't call it the whistling shit can for nothing...

Sink rate seemed a bit high...

Pilot rode it like a champ...

Until he saw the flames envelop the canopy, then yanked the loud handle...

ARFF took too long to get moving...

A few more observations:

I don't think the pilot declared an emergency other wise the fire guys would have been ready

Cool that you get to hear the ejector rockets

Fire crews did look like they didn't want to get near (though I wouldn't go near a burning plane full of bombs either) of course the plane is already toast and the pilots safe let it burn

miamiair wrote:They don't call it the whistling shit can for nothing...

Bearing in mind that it's a British invention I would agree! I'm sure MD11Engineer could come on here and comment on his experiences with the British Land Rovers and their advantages/fallbacks!

As a side note, the pilot must have taken a hell of a crunch when he ejected from the ground like that. He did stay in there a while mind , but are ejector seats designed to safely deliver the pilot to terra firma from such low altitudes? I seem to recall a previous military crash in the north of the UK where a 2 seater jet crashed and the one guy that ejected was the guy that didn't make it?

K

DoctorKieron wrote:As a side note, the pilot must have taken a hell of a crunch when he ejected from the ground like that. He did stay in there a while mind , but are ejector seats designed to safely deliver the pilot to terra firma from such low altitudes? I seem to recall a previous military crash in the north of the UK where a 2 seater jet crashed and the one guy that ejected was the guy that didn't make it?

I think a more problematic scenario is if he gets ejected near the ground at an angle. From the video, I would assume that he may have received a few injuries from the chute landing, but his spine was probably more compressed by the impact of the aircraft on the ground.

Just guessing, though.

Those ejection seats are Zero/Zero: Zero Airspeed/Zero Altitude. From a parked airplane you can be shot out and land safely.

Read more here.

I know tailhooker knows some that didn't make it going out at an angle.

In this footage, the BN hits the water before his parachute completely inflated:

miamiair wrote:Those ejection seats are Zero/Zero: Zero Airspeed/Zero Altitude. From a parked airplane you can be shot out and land safely.

Read more here.

I know tailhooker knows some that didn't make it going out at an angle.

In this footage, the BN hits the water before his parachute completely inflated:

Thanks for the link (very interesting) and the vid. Did anyone know if the guy in the video made it?

They both survived.

Is it not also true that in the RAF a pilot etc would get a special tie to wear if he/she had successfully ejected? I seem to remember this from a telly show many moons ago.

DoctorKieron wrote:Is it not also true that in the RAF a pilot etc would get a special tie to wear if he/she had successfully ejected? I seem to remember this from a telly show many moons ago.

The Martin-Baker Ejection Tie Club

Once again Thanks Miami.

So it seems that this "badge/award/tie" is international then?

DoctorKieron wrote:Once again Thanks Miami.

So it seems that this "badge/award/tie" is international then?

Yes, and it goes beyond Martin-Baker:

http://www.caterpillarclub.org/irvin/irvin.htm

Leslie Irvin started the tradition back in 1922 and it has grown a lot since then.

This is a very cool thread. I imagine that the forces upon the stopping of the sink rate were annoyingly strong.

DoctorKieron wrote:As a side note, the pilot must have taken a hell of a crunch when he ejected from the ground like that. He did stay in there a while mind , but are ejector seats designed to safely deliver the pilot to terra firma from such low altitudes? I seem to recall a previous military crash in the north of the UK where a 2 seater jet crashed and the one guy that ejected was the guy that didn't make it?

K

Most of your problems occur during takeoff and landing.. zero airspeed and zero altitude was always the design goal of seat makers.. And they have been there for a pretty long time.. They aren't perfect, but they are better than the alternatives.

The most dangerous thing I have herd about ejection seats is that they can cut you legs off if you don't pull them in. There is one fighter I saw that actually has wire you attach to you boots so in the event of an eject the seat pulls your legs in.

Airfoilsguy wrote:The most dangerous thing I have herd about ejection seats is that they can cut you legs off if you don't pull them in. There is one fighter I saw that actually has wire you attach to you boots so in the event of an eject the seat pulls your legs in.

IIRC, you were guaranteed broken knees if you had to eject from an English Electric Lightning.

Airfoilsguy wrote:The most dangerous thing I have herd about ejection seats is that they can cut you legs off if you don't pull them in. There is one fighter I saw that actually has wire you attach to you boots so in the event of an eject the seat pulls your legs in.

I know the SR-71 had that.. If you look closely at the back of the boots on the space suit you can see the spurs to attach to the cables.

The leg retraction I think it is called is on several versions of the ACES II seat.. I can almost swear they are on the seats in the B-1