Eject, eject, eject!

Ejection seats and pilot survivability

Military pilots seem to have a love hate relationship with ejection seats – colloquially referred to as ‘bang seats’. Designed to save lives, ejections can leave a pilot badly bruised, sometimes broken boned and about five centimetres shorter! The title picture above spectacularly captures the successful use of an ejection seat by USAF Captain Christopher Stricklin. Capt Stricklin is pictured ejecting from a height of 140ft and eighttenths of a second before the F‑16C he was flying impacted the ground during a Thunderbirds airshow display at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, on September 14 2003.

Stunning cockpit video of the ejection (google ‘Thunderbird crash video’) showed just what quick reactions 31 year-old Capt Stricklin needed to initiate the ejection and how equally quickly the ejection sequence unfolds.