Taking a ride with the Martin-Baker ejection seat: Weapon of the Week

[Ryan Robertson]

EJECT. EJECT. EJECT. 

IT’S LAST THING ANYONE STRAPPED INTO A FAST MOVER WANTS TO HEAR. BUT IF THE MOMENT COMES, AND THE DECISION IS MADE, THERE’S ONE MANUFACTURER PILOT AND PASSENGER WILL LIKELY HOPE THEY’RE STRAPPED INTO, MARTIN BAKER. AND THAT’S WHY THEY’RE THE SUBJECT OF OUR WEAPON OF THE WEEK.

FOR 80 YEARS, THE NAME MARTIN BAKER WAS ONE AIR CREWS COULD COUNT ON IF THINGS WENT WRONG. 

[Steve Roberts, Head of Bussines Dev., Martin Baker]

“Since 1945 we’re proud to have recorded 7777 injections lives saved, to date, of which 3600 are US aviators, life saved the US government Air Force, Navy. Marines is our biggest customer. Numerically, we have about 3000 seats in the US Navy and 2300 seats with the US efforts.”

[Ryan]

IN THE EIGHT DECADES SINCE THIS ENGLISH-BASED COMPANY GOT INTO THE EJECTION SEAT BUSINESS, THE EXPECTATION OF WHAT AN EJECTION SEAT CAN DELIVER CHANGED RIGHT ALONG WITH THE AIRCRAFT IT FLIES IN. 

IN ITS EARLIEST ITTERATIONS, IT WAS ALL ABOUT SURVIVING THE EJECTION. NOW, STEVE ROBERTS, HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR BAKER MARTIN, SAYS THAT’S NOT ENOUGH. 

[Steve Roberts, Head of Bussines Dev., Martin Baker]

“It’s about getting the pilot back in the fight, so escape an evasion, and they’ve now assigned a degree of risk. They’re trying to make sure that there is a 5% risk of injury. Legacy seats in the past would have had a much higher risk of injury.”

[Ryan]

LIKE ANY OTHER ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING FIRM, MARTIN BAKER CONTINUES TO PUSH FOR THE KIND OF INNOVATION THAT WILL CONTINUE TO SHRINK THAT RISK. 

[Steve Roberts, Head of Bussines Dev., Martin Baker]

“This is the US 16-E ejection seat developed specifically for the F 35 it pioneered new technology with electronics, with a new parachute, with air bags, we call neck protection device. And again, it allowed a wider range of air crew to be accommodated, and also allowed safe ejection at high speed, and also for a much smaller and much larger range of air crew.”

[Ryan]

“I want to kind of double tap on that a little bit, because for the longest time, you know, the ejection seats. The planes themselves were made for a certain certain model of a person. Obviously, things have changed, and so the ejection seat needs to be able to accommodate different body types. How does it do that?”

[Steve Roberts, Head of Bussines Dev., Martin Baker]

“So we do that by the seat to chair. So we have whole seat tilt. So the seat can tilt from 22 degrees to 16 and a half degrees, and the seat bucket moves up by about seven and a half inches. So it’s a combination of for the very large male, the seat will tilt fully back with the bucket fully down. For the very small female, the seat is tilted fully forward with the seat bucket in top position.”

[Ryan]

ADD THAT ALL UP, AND IT COMES OUT TO THE SAME PIECE OF EQUIPMENT BEING ABLE TO HANDLE A SIX-FOOT-FIVE AIRMAN GEARED OUT TO 300 POUNDS AND A FOUR-FOOT-ELEVEN AIRMAN WEIGHING AS LITTLE AS 103 POUNDS. 

AND ONE QUICK UPDATE TO A NUMBER YOU HEARD EARLIER IN THE STORY. 

SINCE OUR VISIT WITH STEVE, THE NUMBER OF LIVES SAVED BY A MARTIN BAKER EJECTION SEAT HAS GROWN BY FOUR TO 7,781. THE LAST THREE HAPPENED DURING A PRACTICE DEMONSTRATION WHEN TWO PATROUILLE DE FRANCE ALPHA JET AIRCRAFT COLLIDED ABOUT 130 EAST OF PARIS. BOTH PILOTS AND A PASSENGER SUCCESSFULLY EJECTED USING MARTIN-BAKER’S F-10-LN SEAT.