ryoder 1,590 #26 May 26, 2005 QuoteQuoteEver heard Manley Butler's tirade about all the years he put into developing a ram-air ejection canopy, only to have it shelved because no one in command had the guts to make the decision to deploy it? No, but I can imagine it. I did tons of research on this kind of stuff about 12 years ago. I've got several bookshelves full of copies of government studies. They've always got money to study something new, but hardly ever actually implement anything. 200 lb. pilots with all their gear and seat pan, are still stuck with a 22' diameter round canopy in their ejection seat... I'm going from memory here, but IIRC, his summary was: Quote Every Admiral/General wants to be able to retire saying: "It didn't happen on my watch". "It" being good, bad, or otherwise, so until we get into another Vietnam, and some congressman's kid gets shot down in a situation where a steerable canopy could have enabled him to have avoided capture, you won't see a ram-air canopy in an ejection seat. IIRC, the canopy Manley developed for the Navy weighed 12 pounds and could handle ejection speeds up almost to Mach 1."There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skiskyrock 0 #27 May 27, 2005 QuoteYup, it was done on purpose alright. There were strips of cotton sewn inside the cells to absorbe as much of the flamable liquid as possible. It was kept in a bucket of kerosene on the ride to altitude and then hand-deployed. He used a safety flare to ignite it I think. It all looked kind of scary until I caught the bit about the SAFETY FLARE. Knowing these little tricks takes all of the thrill out of it. ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
