The deadly accident Monday at Sheppard Air Force Base near Wichita Falls, Texas, is under investigation, the base said.

That’s not supposed to happen

  • mkwt@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    8 months ago

    There are so-called zero-zero seats, that are rated for zero altitude and zero airspeed. I haven’t looked at whether this plane was so equipped.

    In any case, any kind of ejection is a serious injury risk at the very least.

    • BearOfaTime@lemm.eeEnglish
      111·
      8 months ago

      I had kind of assumed they were all zero-zero now, especially on something relatively new like the Texan, and especially a trainer.

      But what do I know, maybe the research said it wasn’t critical.

      Weird to have this happen, that stuff is safety’d seven ways to Sunday, and stays disarmed until ready to go.

      Edit: looks like it’s a zero-zero seat (Texan II first flew in 1998).

      https://martin-baker.com/ejection-seats/mk16-us16la/

      Edit 2: According to my aircraft anorak, these seats are deactivated until the plane is in the air using a Weight-off-Wheels switch.