Ejection -v- Forced Landing

On 3/30/05 10:44 PM, in article ,
"Cockpit Colin" wrote:


I take your point completely. Perhaps what I should have asked was "which is
safer". I'm not a whizz on ejection seats (all I can lay claim to fame with
them is sitting in a live one on a couple of occasions) - from what I've
read they certainly have saved a lot of lives - but also many cases of
pilots being killed by them. I'm quite curious to know what the chances of
survival (and without major injuries) would be for a pilot ejecting from a
modern aircraft under "ideal" conditions (eg 200 - 300 knots, not Mach 1.8)
etc.

Have they got to the point where a "pilot in need" flying with one things
thinks "thank god I've got an ejection seat" or is it a case of "do I feel
lucky today" - if you get what I mean.


I don't know a single pilot in the Hornet community who thinks that an
ejection seat is the "Get Out of Jail Free" card for risky behavior--if that
was your question.

The seat is strictly a save your life mechanism, and in the Hornet, you WILL
get hurt. If the G's and wind don't mangle you on the way up, then the
chute will pummel you on the way down--17 foot conical parachute. The rate
of descent is akin to jumping off the roof of a two-story home.

--Woody