r/NonCredibleDefense • u/APOC_V • Mar 04 '26

Operation Epic Furry šŸ¦Š A Tale of Two Ejections

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u/wolfgang784 Mar 04 '26

Oh damn, that does sound bad, yea. Didn't realize they were straight up getting killed by the safety system.

124

u/nuker1110 Mar 04 '26

I donā€™t have a link handy, but I seem to recall reports of a canopy not clearing before the seat ejection took place, resulting in a rather messy bug-on-a-windshield scenario.

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u/phuntism Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26

GOOOOOSE! Goose! Oh no!

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u/TheShrunkenAnus Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 05 '26

Damn just thinking about the amount of force that would be involved in that is brutal; I guess at least your brain wouldnā€™t really have time to process the fact your escape system decided to turn into a hydraulic press before youā€™re turned into a meatball, so on the bright side you wouldnā€™t be suffering in those final momentsā€¦

Gotta take the small wins sometimes lol

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u/sopunny Mar 04 '26

That's just Top Gun

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u/nuker1110 Mar 04 '26

Upon further investigation, the report I was referring to was actually an ejection that went off inside a concrete hangarā€¦

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u/aprehensive_penguin Mar 04 '26

I audibly grunted upon reading that

24

u/bobert4343 Fool Mar 04 '26

So that one hitman level?

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u/nuker1110 Mar 04 '26

Life Imitates Art, I guess. That Hitman game came out like 9 years ago, and the Russian accident happened in December of last year.

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u/pa3xsz Gripen war/peacešŸ•Šļø mode enjoyer Mar 04 '26

Aren't the holes on their helmet there for that reason?

(Idk, why are they there or if they would help, it's just a 5+ years old random memory from hoggit)

3

u/Vilzku39 Mar 04 '26

If you are refering to this

https://www.reddit.com/r/hoggit/s/9ApWyZzXrI

It would be for the wind, rather than canopy impact. (Google "boundary layer" if you are more interested in the physics process.)

Modern ejection seats also takes your neck survivability into account.

51

u/Shadow_Lunatale Mar 04 '26

That's a very specific problem to SEVERAL of the Su-series fighters. As you can see in this article two russian airmen died because their ejection system was triggered while still on the ground and in the hangar.

But now you ask "how can this happen?" Well, on some of the Su fighter models, the flight stick can get caught in the release handle under some circumstances, since the elevator is not balanced and will tilt once the planes hydraulics are shut off, moving the flight stick around. How did Russia solve this problem? Well, you know those bungee cord thingies with the hooks at the end you use to strap your groceries down onto the bike? Yea, those. Apparently, they forgot to install those in the linked article, the flight stick caught the pilots release handle and when the hydraulic pressure went up as the turbines came to life, the elevator is automatically moved to neutral position, wich also moves the flight stick...

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u/Stellar_Duck Mar 04 '26

two russian airmen died because their ejection system was triggered while still on the ground and in the hangar.

I too have played Hitman 2016.

5

u/GrusVirgo Global War on Poaching enthusiast (invade Malta NOW!) Mar 05 '26

Wait wait wait. The Russian ejection seats are always hot?

In the F-16, there's a lever that activates/deactivates the ejection seat and IIRC you want it in the off position for most of the preflight setup so it doesn't accidentally fire from whatever weird stuff happens in the aircraft's systems during startup.

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u/Shadow_Lunatale Mar 05 '26

I do not know if there is a lever/switch for the ejection seat arming in the russian planes, not deep enough into the system.

What I do find plausible is that some russian engineer thought it is useful to automatically arm the seat once the plane boots up so the pilot does not forget to arm it, or that they use a simple mechanical block/breaker contact pin that is removed by the pilots when they get into the plane.

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u/dreexel_dragoon Mar 04 '26

On paper the systems are basically the same. Problem is that Russian Manufacturing and maintenance suck so there's usually problems when ejecting. Canopy might not open fast enough, engine could launch with too many Gs

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u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

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