5 ms·

Nice read with a paced schadenfreude. I just wonder if it's luck or just some fog of the accident? The hero's harness was said to had been loosen - which is wh

Nice read with a paced schadenfreude. I just wonder if it's luck or just some fog of the accident? The hero's harness was said to had been loosen - which is what eventually prompted the "grabbing of the handle" at negative g - in ejection scenario this is exactly opposite of the prescribed tightening of most slack in the harness in order to minimize the risk of hitting something on the way out of the cockpit. Also it must've been a hellishly painful yank ... Somehow it feels the story had too many "au contraire"s to it. Ground crew not tightening the straps to the guest? Someone had to arm that seat, yet not telling the guest about the purpose of the "striped loop"? The pilot "running away" from the jet after having just managed to land it literally in "hot seat"? My disbelief failed to suspend in this case, so to speak. Oh, well, good that all lived to tell the story!

jacquesm 4y ago
I suspect he just wanted to pull himself back 'down' against the seat. I guess if the seat comes up to meet you that's roughly the same effect.
- zoomablemind 4y ago
  Still, 35lb or so of pulling effort to activate the handle. It's like trying to drag a 4yo kid with both hands, except the handle is much thinner. It all does look like a bigger deal of the front seat misfire. Also from the investigation report (linked in reply by altgans) it seems that there was an issue with misinflation of the raft. The retiree turned to be like a true test pilot, hopefully making it better for others.
  - peeters 4y ago
    > Still, 35lb or so of pulling effort to activate the handle. It's like trying to drag a 4yo kid with both hands, except the handle is much thinner. The negative g's are doing the pulling in this case though, all the passenger had to do is hang on. At -0.5 g a 160lb person will be "pulling" with 80lbs of force just by grabbing onto something.
    - KennyBlanken 4y ago
      Yep. Apparently somewhere between "not strapped in well" and "not strapped in at all" and as he hit the canopy, likely grabbed for whatever he could out of instinct. https://youtu.be/-zIxqKwoHsM?t=427 https://youtu.be/-zIxqKwoHsM?t=427 Although one does wonder how much this is face-saving by him and/or the Air Force who don't want to blame a guy for what likely cost over half a million dollars, if not more. There's the cost of all the labor, the canopy, downtime for the jet, and then those seats cost roughly over $200k each and while I imagine they might get sent back to M-B for refurbishment rather than just being chucked, ehhh: https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/397m-for-172-martinbaker-ejection-seats-03345/ https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/397m-for-172-martinbake...
speed_spread 4y ago
At some point I started to wonder if it wasn't some sort of slapstick final revenge plan on a type-A asshole, which of course no one would admit to.

jacquesm 4y ago

I suspect he just wanted to pull himself back 'down' against the seat. I guess if the seat comes up to meet you that's roughly the same effect.

zoomablemind 4y ago
Still, 35lb or so of pulling effort to activate the handle. It's like trying to drag a 4yo kid with both hands, except the handle is much thinner. It all does look like a bigger deal of the front seat misfire. Also from the investigation report (linked in reply by altgans) it seems that there was an issue with misinflation of the raft. The retiree turned to be like a true test pilot, hopefully making it better for others.
- peeters 4y ago
  > Still, 35lb or so of pulling effort to activate the handle. It's like trying to drag a 4yo kid with both hands, except the handle is much thinner. The negative g's are doing the pulling in this case though, all the passenger had to do is hang on. At -0.5 g a 160lb person will be "pulling" with 80lbs of force just by grabbing onto something.
  - KennyBlanken 4y ago
    Yep. Apparently somewhere between "not strapped in well" and "not strapped in at all" and as he hit the canopy, likely grabbed for whatever he could out of instinct. https://youtu.be/-zIxqKwoHsM?t=427 https://youtu.be/-zIxqKwoHsM?t=427 Although one does wonder how much this is face-saving by him and/or the Air Force who don't want to blame a guy for what likely cost over half a million dollars, if not more. There's the cost of all the labor, the canopy, downtime for the jet, and then those seats cost roughly over $200k each and while I imagine they might get sent back to M-B for refurbishment rather than just being chucked, ehhh: https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/397m-for-172-martinbaker-ejection-seats-03345/ https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/397m-for-172-martinbake...

speed_spread 4y ago

At some point I started to wonder if it wasn't some sort of slapstick final revenge plan on a type-A asshole, which of course no one would admit to.