hi-speed ejections

In article rckSb.4580$EW.3195@okepread02, Tony wrote:
"Bill McClain" wrote in message
My son was asking me about ejecting from jet aircraft. He's 8, and
he's convinced that no matter how fast an airplane is going, it's
possible to eject. I said I didn't think that the guy who was flying
the MiG-25 at Mach 3+ was able to eject from his aircraft with the
runaway engines (if that's what was happening), and that the SR-71
isn't really something you can safely eject from at max speed and
altitude. Any knowledgeable remarks I can pass along to him?

I attended a talk by an SR-71 pilot a little while back and,
according to him, people have safely ejected from an SR-71
at speed and altitude.

The odds aren't good, despite the lower dynamic pressure at
the Blackbird's cruising altitude.

The first fatal accident was the loss of the #3 SR, which involved
a pitch-up at speed. The forebody broke off and tumbled. Pilot
Bill Weaver stated that he lost consciousness immediately. I
didn't read the accident report in enough detail to know whether
his seat belt snapped or whether the skin blowing off the forebody
took the ground rescue handle, which anvils the seat belts.
Weaver told an interviewer years later that he thought that the
bruise across his waist was from hitting the edge of the windscreen
on his way out. He did not fire his seat.

The RSO, Jim Zwayer, died of a broken neck. The accident report
noted that if he had been in a head-down position pulling
positive g's when he fired the seat, then the combined acceleration
could have been 30 g's.


The other breakup at speed with a survivor was the mid-air of
MD-21 #135 and a D-21 drone it had just launched. Pilot Bill Park
reported that the forbody tumbled repeatedly and he pulled heavy
positive and negative g's, possible six each way. He ejected
when his seat belt loosened to the point where his helmet began
to hit the inside of the canopy on the negative g's. Getting
into his raft was much more difficult than he'd expected and
he barely made it on the third try.

Launch control officer Ray Torick also ejected, but was found
drowned, tethered to his life raft, but submerged. The air
connector was torn and his suit flooded. It's unknown whether
he was conscious when he hit the water. Park mentions the
possibility of a broken arm, but I haven't seen the accident
report, so I don't know.


An A-12 may have been lost at speed, but no trace was ever
found of the aircraft or the pilot, Jack Weeks. Low bandwidth
telemetry indicated a fuel flow problem and that the aircraft
had descended below 65,000', if I recall correctly.