Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

Granted, this is viral, but still...

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-d ... an-su.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2302185/posts

Quote:

Movie producers paid two Sukhoi Su-35 pilots to fly without a canopy at Mach 2.0, and have one of them eject in what probably is one of the most dangerous stunts ever filmed.

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I say the ejection picture is FAKE by the horizontal stabs drooped and the tailfeathers missing. I say it was photoshopped from a picture of a jet parked and they 'removed' the landing gear and nozzles (accidentally).

Too bad this story wasn't printed on toilet paper. I can't believe that anyone in their right mind would actually believe that garbage was true. Rolling Eyes

I've met the pilot who survived the fastest bailout in history, relative to his KIAS...His name is Jon "Jughead" Counsell, and he punched out of an F-15, going well over Mach 1. It left him severely injured. Had the Pave Hawk not arrived when it did, he probably wouldn't be alive to explain what happened today. It took him well over a year to get back in the Eagle, and fly again.

He and a Strike Eagle pilot, Brian Udell, both had to overcome several fractures (some compound), torn ligaments, and a myraid other injuries just to live to tell their stories, let alone fly again following their supersonic ejections. Fortunately, they both did.

Unfortunately, however, Udell's WSO, Capt. Dennis White, was killed when he hit the wind blast upon ejection from the aircraft. The aircraft went down in the Atlantic, just off of the North Carolina coast. To date, his body has never been recovered.

Besides, if a Hollywood production company actually tried to put someone up to this, they'd lose their insurance policy faster than you can say "Brandon Lee" or "Dar Robinson".

http://www.ejectionsite.com/insaddle/insaddle.htm

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource. ... ug=2970140

TC,
Is'nt Dar Robinson the guy from "The Right Stuff" who did the scnene where Yeager punched out of the F-104? He's the one you see falling through the clouds trying to remove his helmet right?

Quote:

M-21, Lost on 30 July 1966, near Midway Island, (some sources say Pt. Mugu, CA). While launching a D-21 drone, the drone was trapped in the shock wave of the aircraft, forcing the drone back into the M-21, causing the aircraft to break-up at Mach 3. The Lockheed Test Pilot Bill Park and the LCO (Launch Control Officer) Ray Torick ejected safely, but upon landing in the water Ray Torrick's suit, which became torn in the ejection, caused the suit to fill with water drowning Torrick. Bill Park was rescued safely. This crash prompted the end of the M-21/ D-21 program.

Didn't Bill Park survive a miraculous Mach 3 ejection? Granted, he was at
high altitude (low air density or temp. and had a pressure suit on), but still...
He ejected at Mach 3, which is about 2,000 mph or about 2,933 feet per
second!

TC, that was crazy about that F-15 pilot and tragic. He is lucky to be alive!

I may be wrong about this (I’m within shouting distance of Alzheimer’s), but I believe there was a supersonic ejection down fairly low (5-10 thousand feet over the water) from an F-4 out of Homestead sometime in the 80’s. I believe it was a Mako F-4.

The backseater’s ejection seat only made it half way up the rail and that was the last thing the front seater saw in the mirror before he went.

OL

I believe DarkVark is correct in that it was a ground ejection with the canopy already removed from a line Su-27UB with a little photoshop added in to mae it look real. There are enough clues that point to it. They did actually fly a Su-35 without the canopy and back seat for the topless shots, however I SERIOUSLY doubt he got it up to Mach2 without the canopy.

Tim wrote:

Isn't Dar Robinson the guy from "The Right Stuff"...

No, that was actually Joseph Leonard Svec. I knew it wasn't Dar, but I had to look up his name on imdb just to remember who he was.

Dar Robinson was probably best known as Mel Gibson's stuntman in the first Lethal Weapon film. He was killed filming a motorcycle stunt for "Million Dollar Mystery".

jetblast16 wrote:

He ejected at Mach 3, which is about 2,000 mph or about 2,933 feet per second!

Yes, Bill Park did survive that ejection. However, when you take how many knots he was travelling into account, he really wasn't going that fast. I'm not sure exactly how many knots Mach 3.2 at 80K is, but it's not very fast at all, especially when compared to an F-15 travelling Mach 1.2 at less than 10K.

Add that to the fact that at 80,000 feet, there's very little air resistance, and, as you stated, he was wearing a pressure suit. When you take those factors into account, Counsell and Udell's ejections were much faster and definitely more traumatic.

Outlaw, there very well could have been a Rhino crew that punched out supersonic. I'm not sure if they came from the 482nd. I know around 85, the 31st lost a D model, and both guys got out. Not sure on their speed, though.

Air Force officials release F-22 accident report:

Quote:

The report states, "The [mission test pilot] regained partial [situational awareness] and attempted a late recovery from the test maneuver but determined there was inadequate altitude for a safe recovery and ejected."

Due to the speed of the aircraft and the windblast, the pilot immediately sustained fatal, blunt force trauma injuries upon ejection

Terrible. He was a good man. Again, when low and fast, going from zero miles per hour
to 600+ mph, produces intolerable strains on the human body.

F-14 Fighter explodes over the USS John Paul Jones on September 20th, 1995. Both pilots ejected safely.

I saw of video (I believe) of the two pilots after punching-out and I believe they were
just a little past supersonic speed and may be 1-3000 feet above the ocean. One of
the pilots was quoted as saying that it was the most violent experience in his life and
that he did not want to experience it again (something along those lines).

You'd think the jet exploding and comin' apart around him would be more violent, but I guess ya had to be there.

jetblast16 wrote:

I believe they were just a little past supersonic

No, they weren't. They made a pass over the ship going transonic. However, the # 1 engine exploded shortly after passing over the ship, which caused the large fireball.

The fireball somewhat blocks the view, but what you can't see, is the nose locking upward, with the right wing pointed downward at the moment of explosion...the aircraft then starts a tail-first descent to the water. The explosion took the aircraft down to around 600 kts, which isn't supersonic, but still pretty d@mned fast for an ejection.

It was when the aircraft departed, and started descending that the crew very wisely pulled handles.

TC, you are right. They were high subsonic (transonic) as you said. They
were only about 800 feet above the ocean, which, needless to say, is very
dense air. 600+ knots is almost 700 mph. Granted, they were not in the
shockwave so to speak of a supersonic jet, but due to the very low altitude
and high speed, the force of the ejections must have been tremendous,
not to mention the fact that the aircraft blew up Sad

TC wrote:

His name is Jon "Jughead" Counsell, and he punched out of an F-15, going well over Mach 1. It left him severely injured. It took him well over a year to get back in the Eagle, and fly again.

It took Jughead a little over 3 years to get back into the Eagle.

I've read accounts of this film, and I don't have comments about the ejection. However, I'd really like the answer to another question.

The story that I read said that Russian aircraft are required to be able to fly at supersonic speeds without the canopy. There were comments on the article, but no authoritive answers.

If it's not too off topic, I'd like to know

1. Is it reasonable to fly at mach 2 withot a canopy?
2. Is this a requirement for Russian aircraft -- or US for that matter?

Thanks,

ford2go (hj)

Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

High Speed Ejections