Which aircraft’s ejection seat is the most comfortable?
An ejection seat is a mechanism installed in an aircraft that is intended to save the pilot or other crew members in the event of an emergency. The majority of designs include the canopy coming off and the seat being propelled out of the aircraft by a rocket motor or explosive charge, carrying the pilot with it. The ejection seat releases a parachute once it is outside of the aircraft. To prevent a collision, the seats of two-seat aircraft are ejected at different angles.
Pilots had to manually remove the aircraft canopy to climb out before the invention of ejection seats. Lives can be saved with ejection seats. Which airplane, nevertheless, has the most comfortable ejector seat?
‘None of them are great. Some are terrible,’ David Tussey, a former US Navy A-7 Corsair II pilot, says on Quora.
The T-2C Buckeye had the worst ejection seat
‘The worst ejection seat I ever flew was in the T-2C “Buckeye” training aircraft, which I both trained in and was an instructor pilot in. I have about 1500 hrs in that puppy…err “guppy”.
‘The ejection seat [the Buckeye’s ejection seat was the North American LS-1] in the T-2C used an explosive device instead of a rocket to eject the seat. So, the instantaneous “G” force during an ejection occurred right at the start, instead of accelerating through the sequence as happens during a rocket-powered seat.
‘As a result, the seat could not accommodate a cushion as that would allow the seat to accelerate, even if it’s just a 1″ of vertical travel (by compressing the cushion), before the seat bottom impacts the body of the pilot. And that would likely cause injury.
‘So, no cushion, just a hard-plastic seat. As an IP, flying 2–3 times per day, riding that seat caused me a lot of back problems. And then there were the carrier landings and FCLPs. It was a bit rough.’
The T-2C Buckeye was a great basic jet trainer
Tussey concludes;
‘But I have to say, the T-2C was, in retrospective, a damn good basic jet trainer, highly maneuverable, forgiving, fully acrobatic, pretty fast, and carrier capable. What’s not to like?
‘No pain, no gain.’
Photo by U.S. Navy