Howstuffworks "How Ejection Seats Work" Page 1 of 9

Free Newsletter! • Suggestions! • Win! • About HSW • Contact Us • Home

Daily Stuff • Top 40 • What's New • HSW Store • Forums • Advertise!

Search HowStuffWorks & the Web

Click here to go back to the normal view!

How Ejection Seats

Work
by Kevin Bonsor

U.S. Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady was helping to enforce the no-fly zone over northern
Bosnia on June 2, 1995, when a Bosnian-Serb surface-to-air missile (SAM) struck his F-16.
With the plane disintegrating around him, O'Grady reached down between his knees and
grabbed the pull handle of his ejection seat. After a loud bang caused by the canopy
separating, O'Grady was blasted into the air along with his seat. Soon after, his parachute
deployed and, like 90 percent of pilots who are forced to eject from their aircraft, O'Grady
survived the ejection from his F-16. Following six days of evading capture and eating insects
for survival, O'Grady was rescued.

Photo courtesy U.S. Air Force

Ejecting from an aircraft is rare, but pilots sometimes have to
resort to pulling the ejection handle to save their lives.

Ejecting from an aircraft moving at speeds greater than the speed of sound (mach 1: 750
miles per hour / 1,207 kph) can be very dangerous. The force of ejecting at those speeds can
reach in excess of 20 Gs -- one G is the force of Earth's gravity. At 20 Gs, a pilot experiences
a force equal to 20 times his or her body weight, which can cause severe injury and even
death.

Most military aircraft, NASA research aircraft and some small commercial airplanes are
equipped with ejection seats to allow pilots to escape from damaged or malfunctioning
airplanes. In this edition of HowStuffWorks, you will learn about the parts that make an

http://www.howstuffworks.com/ejection -seat.htm/printable 5/6/2002

Howstuffworks "How Ejection Seats Work" Page 2 of 9

ejection seat work, how the seat lifts a pilot out of a plane and about the physics involved in
ejecting.

Take a Seat
It's important for many types of aircraft to have an ejection seat in case the plane is damaged
in battle or during testing and the pilot has to bail out to save his or her life. Ejection seats are
one of the most complex pieces of equipment on any aircraft, and some consist of thousands
of parts. The purpose of the ejection seat is simple: To lift the pilot straight out of the aircraft to
a safe distance, then deploy a parachute to allow the pilot to land safely on the ground.

Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Defense

An ejection seat being removed from an F-15C Eagle

To understand how an ejection seat works, you must first be familiar with the basic
components in any ejection system. Everything has to perform properly in a split second and
in a specific sequence to save a pilot's life. If just one piece of critical equipment malfunctions,
it could be fatal.

Ejection seats are placed into the cockpit and usually attach to rails via a set of rollers on the
edges of the seat. During an ejection, these rails guide the seat out of the aircraft at a
predetermined angle of ascent. Like any seat, the ejection seat's basic anatomy consists of
the bucket, back and headrest. Everything else is built around these main components. Here
are key devices of an ejection seat:

? Catapult
? Rocket
? Restraints
? Parachute

In the event of an ejection, the catapult fires the seat up the rails, the rocket fires to propel the
seat higher and the parachute opens to allow for a safe landing. In some models, the rocket
and catapult are combined into one device. These seats also double as restraint systems for
the crewmembers both during an ejection and during normal operation.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/ejection -seat.htm/printable 5/6/2002

Howstuffworks "How Ejection Seats Work" Page 3 of 9

Ejection seats are just one part of a larger system called the assisted egress system.
"Egress" means "a way out" or "exit." Another part of the overall egress system is the plane's
canopy, which has to be jettisoned prior to the ejection seat being launched from the aircraft.
Not all planes have canopies. Those that don't will have escape hatches built into the roof of
the plane. These hatches blow just before the ejection seat is activated, giving crewmembers
an escape portal.

Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Defense

A pilot prepares to pull down the face curtain that will launch
the ejection seat up the track of the ejection-seat trainer.

Seats are activated through different methods. Some have pull handles on the sides or in the
middle of the seat. Others are activated when a crew member pulls a face curtain down to
cover and protect his or her face. In the next section, you will find out what happens once the
seat is activated.

Ejection-seat Terms

? Bucket - This is the lower part of the ejection seat that

contains the survival equipment.
? Canopy - This is the clear cover that encapsulates the
cockpit of some planes; it is often seen on military fighter
jets.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/ejection -seat.htm/printable 5/6/2002

Howstuffworks "How Ejection Seats Work" Page 4 of 9

? Catapult - Most ejections are initiated with this ballistic

cartridge.
? Drogue parachute - This small parachute is deployed
prior to the main parachute; it designed to slow the ejection
seat after exiting the aircraft. A drogue parachute in an
ACES II ejection seat has a 5-foot (1.5-m) diameter. Others
may be less than 2 feet (0.6 m) in diameter.
? Egress system - This refers to the entire ejection system,
including seat ejection, canopy jettisoning and emergency
life-support equipment.
? Environmental sensor - This is an electronic device that
tracks the airspeed and altitude of the seat.
? Face curtain - Attached to the top of some seats, pilots
pull this curtain down to cover his or her face from debris.
This curtain also holds the pilot's head still during ejection.
? Recovery sequencer - This is the electronic device that
controls the sequence of events during ejection.
? Rocket catapult - This is a combination of a ballistic
catapult and an underseat rocket unit.
? Underseat rocket - Some seats have a rocket attached
underneath to provide additional lift after the catapult lifts
the crewmember out of the cockpit.
? Vernier rocket - Attached to a gyroscope, this rocket is
mounted to the bottom of the seat and controls the seat's
pitch.
? Zero-zero ejection - This is an ejection on the ground
when the aircraft is at zero altitude and zero airspeed.

Source: The Ejection Site

Bailing Out
When a crewmember lifts the pull handle or yanks the face curtain down on the ejection seat,
it sets off a chain of events that propels the canopy away from the plane and thrusts the
crewmember safely out. Ejecting from a plane takes no more than four seconds from the
time the ejection handle is pulled. The exact amount of time depends on the seat model and
the crewmember's body weight.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/ejection -seat.htm/printable 5/6/2002

Howstuffworks "How Ejection Seats Work" Page 5 of 9

Photo courtesy Goodrich Corporation

This ACES II ejection seat has a middle pull handle used to
activate the ejection sequence.

Pulling the ejection handle on a seat sets off an explosive cartridge in the catapult gun,
launching the ejection seat into the air. As the seat rides up the guide rails, a leg-restraint
system is activated. These leg restraints are designed to protect the crewmember's legs from
getting caught or harmed by debris during the ejection. An underseat rocket motor provides
the force that lifts the crewmember to a safe height, and this force is not outside normal
human physiological limitations, according to documents from Goodrich Corporation, a
manufacturer of ejection seats used by the U.S. military and NASA.

Prior to the ejection system launching, the canopy has to be jettisoned to allow the
crewmember to escape the cockpit. There are at least three ways that the canopy or ceiling of
the airplane can be blown to allow the crewmember to escape:

? Lifting the canopy - Bolts that are filled with an explosive charge are detonated,
detaching the canopy from the aircraft. Small rocket thrusters attached on the forward lip
of the canopy push the transparency out of the way of the ejection path, according to
Martin Herker , a former physics teacher who has written about ejection seats and
maintains a Web site describing ejection seats. (Click here to go to Herker's site.)

? Shattering the canopy - To avoid the possibility of a crewmember colliding with a

canopy during ejection, some egress systems are designed to shatter the canopy with
an explosive. This is done by installing a detonating cord or an explosive charge around
or across the canopy. When it explodes, the fragments of the canopy are moved out of

http://www.howstuffworks.com/ejection -seat.htm/printable 5/6/2002

Howstuffworks "How Ejection Seats Work" Page 6 of 9

the crewmember's path by the slipstream.

? Explosive hatches - Planes without canopies will have an explosive hatch. Explosive
bolts are used to blow the hatch during an ejection.

The seat, parachute and survival pack are also ejected from the plane along with the
crewmember. Many seats, like Goodrich's ACES II (Advanced Concept Ejection Seat, Model
II), have a rocket motor fixed underneath the seat. After the seat and crewmember have
cleared the cockpit, this rocket will lift the crewmember another 100 to 200 feet (30.5 to 61 m),
depending on the crewmember's weight. This added propulsion allows the crewmember to
clear the tail of the plane. As of January 1998, there had been 463 ejections worldwide using
the ACES II system, according to the U.S. Air Force. More than 90 percent of those ejections
were successful. There were 42 fatalities.

Photo courtesy NASA

The parachutes opening on a Martin-Baker ejection seat
during a test. The small parachute at the top is called the
drogue parachute.

Once out of the plane, a drogue gun in the seat fires a metal slug that pulls a small
parachute, called a drogue parachute, out of the top of the chair. This slows the person's
rate of descent and stabilizes the seat's altitude and trajectory. After a specified amount of
time, an altitude sensor causes the drogue parachute to pull the main parachute from the
pilot's chute pack. At this point, a seat-man-separator motor fires and the seat falls away
from the crewmember. The person then falls back to Earth as with any parachute landing.

Modes of Ejection
In the ACES II ejection seat produced by Goodrich Corporation, there are three possible
ejection modes. The one used is determined by the aircraft's altitude and airspeed at the time
of ejection. These two parameters are measured by the environmental sensor and recovery

http://www.howstuffworks.com/ejection -seat.htm/printable 5/6/2002

Howstuffworks "How Ejection Seats Work" Page 7 of 9

sequencer in the back of the ejection seat.

The environmental sensor senses the airspeed and altitude of the seat and sends data to the
recovery sequencer. When the ejection sequence begins, the seat travels up the guide rails
and exposes pitot tubes. Pitot tubes, named for physicist Henri Pitot, are designed to
measure air-pressure differences to determine the velocity of the air. Data about the air flow is
sent to the sequencer, which then selects from the three modes of ejections:

? Mode 1: low altitude, low speed - Mode 1 is for ejections at speeds of less than 250
knots (288 mph / 463 kph) and altitudes of less than 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). The
drogue parachute doesn't deploy in mode 1.
? Mode 2: low altitude, high speed - Mode 2 is for ejections at speeds of more than 250
knots and altitudes of less than 15,000 feet.
? Mode 3: high altitude, any speed - Mode 3 is selected for any ejection at an altitude
greater than 15,000 feet.

Timing an Ejection

? 0 seconds - Pilot pulls cord; canopy is jettisoned or

shattered; catapult initiates, sending seat up rails.
? 0.15 seconds - Seat clears ejection rails at 50 feet (15 m)
per second and is clear of surrounding cockpit; rocket
catapult ignites; vernier motor fires to counteract any pitch
changes; yaw motor fires, inducing slight yaw to assure
man-seat separation. (Burn time of all motors equals 0.10
seconds.)
? 0.50 seconds - Seat has lifted to about 100 to 200 feet
(30.5 to 61 m) from ejection altitude.
? 0.52 seconds - Seat-man-separator motor fires; cartridge
fires to release crewmember and his equipment from seat;
drogue gun fires parachute.
? 2.5 to 4 seconds - Main parachute is fully deployed.

Source: Goodrich Corporation

Physics of Ejecting
Ejecting from an airplane is a violent sequence of events that places the human body under
an extreme amount of force. The primary factors involved in an aircraft ejection are the force
and acceleration of the crewmember, according to Martin Herker , a former physics teacher.
To determine the force exerted on the person being ejected, we have to look at Newton's
second law of motion , which states that the acceleration of an object depends on the force
acting upon it and the mass of the object.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/ejection -seat.htm/printable 5/6/2002

Howstuffworks "How Ejection Seats Work" Page 8 of 9

Photo courtesy NASA

An ejection seat is test-fired at NASA to analyze the seat's
ability to perform a zero-altitude, zero-velocity ejection.

Newton's second law is represented as:

Force = Mass x Acceleration

(F=MA)

Regarding a crewmember ejecting from a plane, M equals his or her body mass plus the
mass of the seat. A is equal to the acceleration created by the catapult and the underseat
rocket.

Acceleration is measured in terms of G, or gravity forces. Ejecting from an aircraft is in the 5-

G to 20-G range, depending on the type of ejection seat. As mentioned in the introduction, 1
G is equal to the force of Earth's gravity and determines how much we weigh. One G of
acceleration is equal to 32 feet/second2 (9.8 m/s2). This means that if you drop something off
of a cliff, it will fall at a rate of 32 feet/second2.

It's simple to determine the mass of the seat and the equipment attached to the seat. The
pilot's mass is the largest variable. A 180-pound person normally feels 180 pounds of force
being applied to him when standing still. In a 20-G impact, that same 180-pound person will
feel 3,600 pounds of force being exerted. To learn more about force, click here.

"To determine the speed of the [ejection] seat at any point in time, one solves the Newton
equation knowing the force applied and the mass of the seat/occupant system. The only other
factors that are needed are the time of the force to be applied and the initial velocity present
(if any)," writes Herker on his Web site describing the physics for understanding ejections .
Herker provides this equation for determining the speed of the seat:

Speed = Acceleration x Time + Initial speed

V(f) = AT + V(i)

Initial speed refers to either the climb or the sink rate of the aircraft. It may also be

http://www.howstuffworks.com/ejection -seat.htm/printable 5/6/2002

Howstuffworks "How Ejection Seats Work" Page 9 of 9

determined by the initial step of the ejection process in a seat that combines an explosive
catapult and an underseat rocket. The seat speed must be high enough to allow separation of
the seat and person from the aircraft as quickly as possible in order to clear the entire aircraft.

The use of an ejection seat is always a last resort when an aircraft is damaged and the pilot
has lost control. However, saving the lives of pilots is a higher priority than saving planes, and
sometimes an ejection is required in order to save a life.

For more information on ejection seats and related technology, see the links on the next page.

Lots More Information!

Related HowStuffWorks Articles

? How Black Boxes Work

? How Becoming An Airline Pilot Works
? How Airplanes Work
? How does an EPIRB distress radio work?
? How Force, Power, Torque and Energy Work
? HowStuffWorks Aviation!

More Great Links!

? The Ejection Site

? Ejection Seats
? Goodrich Corporation
? Martin-Baker Aircraft Company
? NASA: Aircraft Escape Systems
? History of Aircraft Escape System Propulsion
? Time Magazine: Scott O'Grady's Ejection and Rescue
? Scientific American: Working Knowledge, Parachutes
? U.S. Air Force Museum: Ejection Seat Development

Join HSW! || Newsletter || Suggestions || Link to HSW || Hiring

Win! || Store || About Us || Contact Us || Privacy || Home
Frequently Asked Questions || Advertising

Copyright © 1998-2002 Howstuffworks, Inc. All rights reserved

http://www.howstuffworks.com/ejection -seat.htm/printable 5/6/2002