Ejection Seat "Mythbusting"

LPhot Chris Sellars, MOD, © Crown copyright 2023, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

If you've ever seen ejection footage posted on social media, you've seen the comments section (Reddit, I'm looking at you). It's always the same old myths, repeated as fact. Every time, I have to resist the urge to jump in and correct the record, but we all know that's a fruitless endeavour.

I'm very much going to treat this as a "live" article that I'll update as I stumble across new misconceptions or myths. If anyone has any particular questions they want me to address, feel free to use the contact form on my website!

Myth 1 - Pilots are several inches shorter after an ejection

This is probably the most pervasive myth out there. Like all good myths, it has a tiny grain of truth that’s been blown way out of proportion.

I'll speak in quite broad strokes here as the specifics vary between different seat designs. But, during an ejection the pilot is subjected to "compressive" accelerations somewhere in the ballpark of 14-20g, with these accelerations peaking during initial propulsion away from the aircraft on the ejection gun (I'm not going to discuss parachute inflation/deceleration here). This intense acceleration does compress the spine, but the spine acts a bit like a spring and decompresses and returns to its normal length after the ejection. You do not permanently lose inches of height.

This myth likely took root in the era of older, cruder ejection systems, like those used around the Vietnam War. Those seats were far more violent and less refined than their modern counterparts with spinal injuries being more common.. Today, seat designers target a spinal injury rate of less than 5%, and modern systems often perform even better than that.

S-3 Viking Ejection Test at China Lake.

Myth 2 - Ejecting will break your back

Note: Ejection injury risks and the metrics used to assess them are complex topics that you could quite literally write a PHD on. I will at some point get around to discussing them further, but outlined below is a very "rough" discussion.

Let's be clear, ejection from an aircraft in an extremely violent event. With the initial catapult stroke, rocket motor burn, and parachute opening, your body can experience forces ranging from 12g to over 25g. So yes, injuries can and do happen.

However, the idea that a severe, life-altering spinal injury is a guaranteed outcome is just plain wrong. Online comments often paint a picture of catastrophic injury, but the reality with modern seats is far less dramatic.

Modern ejection seats are targeting an injury rate of less than 5%. When injuries do occur with modern seats, they are most often compression fractures of the vertebrae in the lower spine or neck. While a "broken vertebra" sounds terrifying, it's typically a recoverable injury, often healing within 6 to 12 weeks. It's not the kind of "broken back" that most people imagine.

In fact, after ejections from modern aircraft like the F-35 (Mk16E seat) or the F/A-18 (NACES seat), it's not uncommon for pilots to be up and walking around before search and rescue even arrives. That's a testament to how safe these systems have become!

The discourse and misinformation around this all stems from those very early ejection seats that were in use in/or around the Vietnam war, these systems were substantially less safe than the generation that followed them in the 1970/80's. A real step change in safety was seen upon the introduction of the Martin-Baker Mk10 & ACES 2 ejection seats.

Ultimately, ejection is all about a balance of risk. Pilots are using these systems in dire emergencies—they aren't punching out of a perfectly good aircraft. A small, managed risk of a recoverable injury is an acceptable trade-off to guarantee survival.

Myth 3 - If you eject, your flying career is over

This one is a straightforward "no." Any pilot who ejects undergoes a thorough medical evaluation. If they are injured but make a full recovery, there is absolutely no reason the ejection itself would prevent them from flying again.

There are numerous pilots who are double ejectees, and even a good number of treble ejectees out there! These pilots are living proof that ejecting doesn't have to the end of a career in the cockpit!

Myth 4 - Where & When Ejections Happen

Everyone loves to focus n the headline figures of an ejection seat, the highest speeds or altitudes you can eject at. The latest Top Gun movie only serves to reinforce this focus on supersonic ejections.

The reality? The vast majority of ejections—we're talking over 95%—happen at relatively low speeds (under 300 knots) and low altitudes (below 2,000 feet).

Why? Because altitude and speed give a pilot options. When things go wrong up high, there's often time to try and save the aircraft. It's when you're low and slow, like during takeoff or landing, that pulling the handle becomes your only option. This is why you see so many ejections happen in these phases of flight. Proximity to the ground and a low energy state leave no room for error or malfunction.

So while a seat like the Russian K-36 may boast a 700-knot+ ejection capability, you have to ask: how often is that actually used? The real question for designers is whether chasing those high-speed numbers compromises performance in the "heart" of the envelope, where pilots' lives are most often saved.

Myth 5 - Helmet Mounted Displays (HMDs) and their impact upon the ejection seat.

This is a fascinating and challenging topic that I plan to cover in much more detail soon!

The myth goes that modern helmets, packed with heavy display technology, are too massive and would snap the pilot's neck during an ejection. There is a real challenge here: the weight of an HMD dramatically increases the inertial forces acting on the pilot's head and neck, along with a range of other challenges.

Keep your eyes out for a deep dive on this topic soon.