Posted on 03/25/2009 5:29:32 PM PDT by pfflier
In the movie Top Gun, the F-14 is (presumably) in a flat spin and Goose ejects into the canopy. I need some professional opinions on the possibility of that happening.
My experience with the F-16 is that the canopy ballistics make the canopy long gone prior to seat firing at any point in the envelope. Normally the aerodynamics would strip the canopy away in forward flight in any ejection. But, in a flat spin, did the F-14 aerodynamics create an environment where the canopy could remain over the plane/crew resulting in a crew strike?
The one movie about the Navy we enjoyed that came out while I was in the Navy was The Final Countdown. A modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii.
Yea it was also full of “yea rights”, and we did not let a scene with a blooper go by without letting the whole theater know, but seeing that with my shipmates was a blast.
can you post it
What I hate is when a gun is dropped and it shoots someone.
All modern pistols that I know of, can not fire unless the trigger is pulled. In revolvers, the firing pin is physically not in contact with the bullet when the trigger is not pulled.
I also hate it when someone throws some ammo into a fire and it goes off and kills all the bad guys. Ammo that is not chambered and explodes, usually shoots the brass cartidge in one direction while the bullet barely moves. I guess a brass cartridge could kill you but not likely.
But you still liked the movie its one of my favs
I think that your understanding of the "fail-safe" concept is a bit lacking.
They have actuators ( small squibs ) that blow the canopy away from the aircraft when the handle is pulled. The through canopy ejection mode isn't the only way to eject, it's just one of them.
Also talked to friends who worked egress and the way Goose died in Top Gun is possible although rare. I think the flat spin incident may have happened but it may have not been with an F-14.
Oh yea, it was and still is a fun movie to watch.
The two movies that inspired my decision to pick Navy over the other services, though was In Harms Way and Tora Tora Tora. Grew up watching those movies. But reality found the Jimmy Carter Navy to be more like the one portrayed in the Last Detail or Cinderella Liberty. It did get better when Reagan took over but it was too late, I already made plans to get out when the hitch was up.
If I can find it ... gotta lot of pictures in boxes ... pictures of my late-wife is in there a lot and even 17 years after her death it’s hard to see her picture
Biggest thing I noticed with the movie was the date on the C rations. No way would they have any that new or even from the last couple of decades.
I understand
That and you got a bunk to sleep in to heck with that solider stuff Thanks for your serviice
In the A-6 the ejection charge for the canopy it blows to the rear.
Even in a zero-zero ejection sequence-- the ambient airmass is at normal pressure and density...+/- whatever ambient wind (e.g wind over the deck on a carrier at sea) may be present.
THESE are the factors for computing the ballistic charge(s) and angles needed to blow the canopy CLEAR from a standstill --yet with safe clearance of the ejection seat paths within the time frame of a normal ejection sequence.
In the flat spin scenario, the air into which the canopy is blown is under fluctuating, mostly negative, ambient pressures [near vacuum]; essentially "holding" the canopy assembly within the aforementioned aerodynamic burble until something changes due to the motion of the spinning aircraft OR the free flight of the detached canopy assembly permits it to catch a flow of relative wind and blow it out of the way.
Whatever length of the delay that occurs in the clearance of the canopy due to the burble-- THAT is how much danger the RIO and or PILOT incurs during the flat spin ejection scenario.
Even in a conventional spin, incipient, or developed, the ejection sequence would work as advertised.
The "flat spin" is a radical departure from controlled flight that essentially turns the airframe into an upright "frisbee" in free-fall; governed NOT by aerodynamics, but the weight of the aircraft and the gravity constants --
In other words, the flight path of a GRAND PIANO!
This is my best educated (USMC) Nasal Radiator surmise from talking to my Tomcat buddies waaay back when.
I asked the TopGun instructors the verrry same question that pfflier posted here.
This is a paraphrase of the info they passed along. They were the same ones who affirmed that the "Goose" injury HAD actually occurred in advanced training operations.
Hope this answers your Q??...
Yo' DOC... BTW
Keep us all posted when the DC chapter "ratchets" up some excellent good weather activism across the Avenue!
Blessings...
With the advent of the Martin-Baker 0-0 ejection seat, virtually every jet fighter had the capability of ejecting through the canopy unless there was an interlock on the canopy that prevented ejection. The downside of the interlock was that the pilot was trapped by the very safety mechanisms intended to save his life because the seat wouldn’t eject.
I think that the interlocks have since been removed because the flight crew has a better chance of survival if they can get clear of the aircraft, even if they go through the canopy. The biggest danger of going through the canopy is that it may not break cleanly and the flight crew can be severely injured.
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