4 ms·
Very interesting story. One question for any experts: why did he eject at such a high altitude? Would it have been possible for him to have taken the plane do
by steve8918 15y ago
Very interesting story.
One question for any experts: why did he eject at such a high altitude? Would it have been possible for him to have taken the plane down to a lower altitude before trying to eject? Or was there a technical reason why he had to eject when he did?
- mikeash 15y agoIt sounds like he was losing control of the airplane, which was diving towards the ground, increasing its speed. The faster the plane is going, the more dangerous it is to eject (all of that onrushing air hits you really hard, and supersonic ejections are not at all entertaining). Before too long, it's likely that the plane would have broken up due to excessive speed, at which point the pilot's chances of survival would have dropped dramatically. In the absence of a thunderstorm, it would have been no problem to eject at that altitude. Since he didn't realize what the storm was going to do to him, I think that's the rationale behind the choice.
- crikli 15y agoGlide ratio, or lack thereof. Swept wing fighters usually have a glide ratio of like 1.5:1, meaning you go 1.5 feet for every foot you drop. With the engine out you've lost the hydraulic boost you have over the control surfaces so the aircraft is going to become more and more difficult to control as it accelerates. Also, crap glide ratios mean it's much easier to get into an accelerated stall that almost instantly becomes a spin...and then you're really screwed. And the low glide ratio means that even if the control issues weren't there, you're not gliding your way out of a t-cell. I've flown over a flat-top cumulonimbus once with a friend who owned an Epic LT turboprop. Those things are...well, words fail. Epic ^ inf.