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To: Rokke
I've spent some time in ejection seats myself but this was long before they were equiped with chaff. My reference is the NTSB Exhibit 13A, page 51. If what I write is nonsense blame the NTSB. If you are ignorant about what you may sit in I would recommend that you don't sit there any more. You know the old adage about old and bold pilots. I imagine that that could apply to stupid as well.
359 posted on 12/17/2001 8:26:13 PM PST by barf
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To: barf
Ahh. Please note that your reference says "The Air Training Command has equipped some of its aircraft". I suppose someone thought it was a good idea to highlight the area a student punched out in. I don't believe they still do that. I'll find out for you tommorrow. As for what is in my seat, the ACES II, (which is the same seat flown in almost every USAF combat aircraft today and for decades) I challange you to find chaff anywhere near it. Nice classless comment about stupid pilots though, which brings me to "painting" objects with chaff.

Chaff is to radars what a smoke screen is to the human eyeball. It is not easy to control, it obscures whatever it surrounds and prohibits any useful observation of what it is used around. You have correctly stated that it is made up of fine, hair like particles coated with radar reflective material. Those fine particles disperse in a cloud and drift with the wind. Chaff clouds are completely at the mercy of the wind, and any chaff used anywhere near TWA800 would have shown up as a large 17-19 knot track (the speed of the wind at the altitude TWA 800 blew up). You cannot "paint" something with chaff any more than you can "paint" something with smoke. A kinetic kill vehicle is designed to be used above 100,000 feet. It is an incredibly complex device that has undergone years of testing. To mark its impact with a cloud of chaff would be like marking a point of brain surgery with a paint bomb. You would obliterate any useful info from the impact, and as I've previously stated, both the warhead and the target are already being tracked by other sensors.

362 posted on 12/17/2001 9:36:53 PM PST by Rokke
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