Ejector seats.

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G-CPTN
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Ejector seats.

#1 Post by G-CPTN » Fri Jul 22, 2022 6:09 pm


Boac
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Re: Ejector seats.

#2 Post by Boac » Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:42 pm

The issue is 'international'.

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Re: Ejector seats.

#3 Post by TheGreenAnger » Tue Jul 26, 2022 7:48 am

Anybody have an idea of what the "technical issue" migh be?
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Re: Ejector seats.

#4 Post by Boac » Tue Jul 26, 2022 8:09 am

Rumours only that it was an issue in the production of some part and when a/c were shown to not have that part from a particular production run, they were cleared. The most 'regular' servicing replacement cycle is cartridges.

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Re: Ejector seats.

#5 Post by PHXPhlyer » Tue Jul 26, 2022 3:07 pm

Putting the bang into bang seats.

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Re: Ejector seats.

#6 Post by TheGreenAnger » Tue Jul 26, 2022 3:49 pm

When flight operations go bad...

The day that the bang seat did not work due to maintenance failures.


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Re: Ejector seats.

#7 Post by CharlieOneSix » Tue Jul 26, 2022 4:28 pm

Another sad incident was on 10 May 1966 on the Beira Patrol when the Observer's ejection seat in a Sea Vixen failed to fire. When I reached the pilot, Allan Tarver, he was sitting in his dinghy but there was no sign of the Observer.

London Gazette - Award of the George Medal
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Re: Ejector seats.

#8 Post by FD2 » Fri Apr 07, 2023 12:21 am

CharlieOneSix - this sad announcement in the Telegraph today must have brought back some memories:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/ ... very-navy/


Commander Allan Tarver, naval aviator who won a George Medal for bravery– obituary


He remained in his crashing aircraft trying to save his comrade thereby jeopardising his own chances of survival
By Telegraph Obituaries 6 April 2023 • 3:56pm

Commander Allan Tarver, who has died aged 84, was awarded the George Medal for a selfless act of bravery in the air during an extraordinary feat of airmanship in May 1966 that stands out in the annals of naval aviation history.

In the spring of 1966 the fleet carrier Ark Royal was in the Indian Ocean, enforcing the Beira Patrol, the British blockade of oil imports to Ian Smith’s administration in Rhodesia which had unilaterally declared independence, when on May 10 over the Mozambique Channel, as the London Gazette subsequently reported, “Tarver was the pilot of a Sea Vixen aircraft returning from a routine patrol, when one of his two engines stopped through a mechanical failure and the aircraft, already low on fuel, began to lose more fuel from the damaged engine.”

A Scimitar tanker aircraft from Ark Royal was despatched to refuel the disabled aircraft, but while the Sea Vixen was linking up in mid-air, its other engine cut out at around 12,000 feet, and the aircraft began to fall towards the sea.

Tarver coolly remained in his cockpit, retaining control as best he could, and calmly began a countdown for himself and his observer (naval parlance for the navigator), to eject at a height of 6,000 feet. When the countdown reached zero, Tarver’s observer, Lieutenant John Stutchbury, tried to fire his ejector seat, but the mechanism failed and he began to attempt to bale out manually.

Although every moment of delay reduced Tarver’s own chances of survival, he remained in his cockpit to help Stutchbury. With the hatch cover jettisoned, he twice inverted the aircraft, even though the manoeuvre meant precious height and speed were lost.

But it was to no avail because Stutchbury, though he succeeded in getting himself half out of his access hatch, appeared to lose consciousness and it seems that his harness may have become caught in the airframe.

Still refusing to give up, Tarver leant back and put his arm through the hatch between the cockpits to push on Stutchbury’s foot (the only part of him that was visible) in the hope of jerking him clear before the aircraft hit the sea – but again, to no avail.

The Scimitar pilot watching from above reported that, as the stricken aircraft rolled over on its final plunge into the sea, Tarver was thrown from the pilot’s cockpit and hit the sea before his parachute had time to deploy. There was no chance, the other pilot reported after landing on Ark Royal, of Tarver’s having survived.

But he did survive, albeit with an injury to his knee, and a helicopter rescued him from the sea and brought him back on board the carrier.

“That he was unsuccessful in saving his observer in no way diminished the quality of his own bravery,” the London Gazette observed, “and by making his first concern the survival of his fellow aircrew, Tarver acted in the highest traditions of the Service; by remaining for several minutes in the crashing aircraft thereby forfeiting his own chances of escape, beyond the point where he could reasonably expect to live, he exhibited most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger.”

Allan Leigh Tarver was born on June 29 1938 at Canford Cliff, Dorset, into a family of Indian Army officers and was brought up in Baluchistan. Educated at Wellington, he joined Dartmouth in 1954, studied at the Royal Naval Engineering College, Manadon, and specialised in air engineering, before learning to fly at RAF Linton-on-Ouse in 1962, with advanced flying training at RNAS Brawdy in Wales.

Subsequently, Tarver qualified in the de Havilland Sea Vixen all-weather fighter, at RNAS Yeovilton, before joining 893 Naval Air Squadron.

The Sea Vixen, a twin-engine, twin boom-tailed jet, was flown to the limits of its performance by the Fleet Air Arm. The pilot’s cockpit was off-centre and the observer sat below the pilot with no forward view other than the radar used for interceptions, in a position known as the “coal hole”. It was a remarkable, versatile aircraft, and the first British two-seater to break the sound barrier. Nonetheless its accident rate was high and over 50 aircrew were lost in non-combat flying.

In the 1960s the Luftwaffe operated the F104 Starfighter which suffered so many accidents that it was named the “widow-maker”, but in percentage terms of losses the Sea Vixen was more self-harming.

However, operating in all weathers during the Cold War off aircraft carriers and on operations which were intrinsically dangerous, Tarver and his fellow pilots always showed great care and skill. Apart from his one crash in 1966, Tarver’s flying was accident-free. After rehabilitation for the injury to his knee, Tarver resumed flying.

From 1967 to 1972 he flew first with the US Navy Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland and then became a test pilot at Boscombe Down, where he flew Phantoms and helped to introduce the Harrier into service. He was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air.

After taking redundancy in 1976, he trained as an accountant and opened a practice in Petersfield, where for many years he was also a town councillor.

His first marriage, to Susan Wolstenholme, was dissolved in 1991. He is survived by his second wife, Jennifer, née Fletcher, and by three children from his first marriage and three stepchildren.

Commander A L Tarver, born June 29 1938, died March 23 2023

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Re: Ejector seats.

#9 Post by CharlieOneSix » Fri Apr 07, 2023 10:23 am

Yes, one of those days that remains vivid in the memory.
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