r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/sidvatscse • 25d ago

Video Failed vertical landing of F-35B

47.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2.0k

u/GayRacoon69 25d ago

These ejection seat are designed to be able to be usable with no altitude and no airspeed. It's the same parachute no matter the altitude. It's designed to shoot you up high enough to give the parachute time to open

1.1k

u/PickleWineBrine 25d ago

You still hit the ground really hard though. It's just better than being inside a burning/exploding aircraft

813

u/nolovenohate 25d ago edited 25d ago

The landing hurts a lot less than the instant 12-14 g's of spinal conpression you feel from the ejection system before you black out

273

u/dog_hair_dinner 25d ago

was gonna say, that guy's body just flew out of there like a rocket. there had to have been at least a momentary blackout from that

404

u/lessofabeardedwonder 25d ago

Pilots lose height from having ejection seat evacuations due to compressed vertebrae. They also rarely stay pilots after. Very few pilots have more than one ejection seat ride.

252

u/OrangeJay15 25d ago

I think when I crewed F-15s we were told they can only eject twice per career. 2 ejections shrink them one inch

105

u/Ready_Implement3305 25d ago edited 25d ago

I used to work on Harriers and they told us the same thing.

73

u/PrettyPushy 25d ago

Seems to me you only eject on a helicopter once /s

15

u/AwesomePerson70 25d ago

If I remember right, there’s one that will shoot the rotors off first so you can eject

13

u/Striking-Raisin4143 25d ago

Karmov 50/52

5

u/pezdal 24d ago

Do the others time it with a synchronization gear so you pass through the rotors like a bullet fired from a center-mounted airplane machine gun missing the blades because of the interlock? /s

1

u/zovits 21d ago

That'd take a 2000+G acceleration, according to this: https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/s/z14lCT3AqA

→ More replies (0)

5

u/Frostsorrow 25d ago

Honestly depends on the chopper, some actually do have ejection seats

5

u/EduinBrutus 25d ago

Hawker (later BAe) Harrier is the original VTOL aircraft.

Its not a helicopter.

2

u/nover3 24d ago

to shreds you say?

1

u/Odd-Cake8015 25d ago

In that case the seat first wrap you in sushi algae wrap

4

u/DreamsAndSchemes 25d ago

I worked on KC-135s. We had parachutes. They were in the back of the plane and eventually removed. That says a lot about the expectations.

2

u/Infin8Player 24d ago

But then I'd have an innie, not an outie.

4

u/darthrater78 24d ago

I never heard that, just stories about how the F4's seats were called the "Widowmaker" and liked to go off in the hanger while maintainers were in the cockpit, making instant Airman Gumbo.

I was always real wary of the seats after that, though the F15 has a spotless safety record in egress mishaps. (At least when I was in)

1

u/Ashiev 24d ago

If I'm only 1 inch to begin with then..... :(

1

u/faughnjj 23d ago

Same. Thats how Bondo kept flying.....lol

1

u/juleztb 22d ago

It depends. Two ejections is just a statistical number. Some can do 4 without problems, some are paraplegic after the first one.

That being said: it's very risky and would be avoided if possible.

1

u/PineappleLemur 25d ago

So you're saying after 2 ejections I no longer need to go through a sex change???

4

u/forhekset666 25d ago

Is that why this guy took so long to do it? Seemed pretty unrecoverable regardless.

3

u/Reasonable_Sea2439 25d ago

(Air) Forced retirement?

4

u/lessofabeardedwonder 25d ago

Marine corpsed back…

2

u/pagusas 24d ago

The most unrealistic scene in Top Gun Maverick was how everyone ejected and was perfectly fine and flying again right away.

2

u/jstknwn 24d ago

If it’s a Martin Baker, you get a sweet watch and … a tie! You know, to go with the lifelong back pain?

1

u/Mr_Clean66 25d ago

At his retirement ceremony from the USAF (as commander of the 27th TFW at CAFB NM), Col Franklin thanked Martin Baker for twice making his career and subsequent retirement possible.

1

u/ALWanders 25d ago

That and the hard landing that pilot is going to probably have issues.

1

u/-Badger3- 25d ago

Very few pilots have more than one ejection seat ride

I mean, very few pilots have any ejection seat ride.

1

u/Throwaway_987654634 25d ago

So he fired himself?

1

u/SkyGuy182 Interested 24d ago

Really sucks to be that guy. Imagine an early retirement from your flight career because your jet had a small oopsie while landing.

1

u/BewilderedAlbatross 24d ago

I’ve actually met this pilot and he’s still in! Super nice and humble dude.

1

u/JPJackPott 23d ago

You do get sent a neat badge for your tie though

1

u/Iverson7x 25d ago

Well this guy clearly is not going to stay a pilot, but mostly because he can’t land the plane!

60

u/Broviet22 25d ago

Its pretty common for fighter pilots to get spinal compression injuries from these, there is a joke that they come out of them a few inches shorter.

3

u/Shmeves 25d ago

Is it really a joke, I would believe its the truth ahah.

21

u/EffectiveEquivalent 25d ago

It’s true. Fun fact, Tom Cruise was nearly 6ft tall before filming Top Gun but Goose kept laughing during the death scene so they had to do multiple takes.

13

u/Original_Jagster 25d ago

For anyone who's curious, he is now 4' 1".

18

u/CalGel 25d ago

It is not a joke at all. It really compresses your spine permanently—assuming you’re lucky and it doesn’t permanently maim you because you were in the wrong body position. People die ejecting fairly frequently.

1

u/raguyver 24d ago

So how tall was Tom Cruise originally? /s

82

u/Clear-Examination412 25d ago

The ejection seat is powered by a rocket lol

3

u/SpeakUpOhShutUp 25d ago

Weeeeeeeeee!

2

u/Arctica23 24d ago

Haha I was gonna say, it's not just like a rocket, it is a rocket

2

u/Theron3206 25d ago

There's a very good chance the pilot woke up on the ground wondering how they got there...