The 200-lb ejection seat , with its 3,500 or so parts, is a remarkable piece of technology that not only gets pilots out of a crashing plane but also ensures they survive the experience more or less unscathed.
If the pilot ejects above 16,400 feet where oxygen is scarce, sensors on the chair will let it free-fall to get its occupant down to breathable air as fast as possible, & only then will the parachute open.
Ejecting at up to 65,000 feet from an aircraft flying at 700 mph is a violent process.
Despite the technology’s progression over the decades, you’re basically sitting on a small chair that has been rocket-propelled out of a malfunctioning aircraft, a parachute opens, you & the seat land—really hard.
Legs may get broken, vertebrae may be compressed.
A pilot who had to eject after his plane hit a large bird, says: “You are totally out of control when you eject & you drop super fast. I was sure I’d broken something.”
Pilots hesitate to pull the ejection seat handle because “we know that we are condemning a multi-million dollar piece of equipment, paid for with taxpayers’ money,” says another pilot !
Source – FL360aero