XBradTC

Ejection seats in tactical aircraft are rather uncomfortable. Historically, that hasn’t been too much of an issue. Most tactical sorties last anywhere between 90 and 120 minutes. Since your average aviator butt tends to fall asleep after about 45 or 60, it was primarily a matter of minor discomfort and inconvenience. But one thing we’ve seen, especially for Naval aircraft supporting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is monster length mission of 6 or even 8 hours becoming routine. And that actually has some real health impact on the aviators.

Of course, uncomfortable seats have been a known issue for some time. A couple of decades ago, some crews took to taking inflatable seat donuts or foam pads along, which made the tush a little more comfortable.

The problem was, inevitably, someone using these unauthorized comfort items would have to eject. And therein is another very real health hazard. An ejection is already an astonishingly violent event. The G forces that even a perfectly positioned aviator has imposed on his spine are at the very limits of physiological capacity. The spine is typically compressed so that pilots are an inch or so shorter for a while after ejection.

When the ejection handle is pulled, the initial catapult charge sends the seat and attached crewman up the rails. But if there is a soft pad between the pilot and the seat, what happens is, the seat accelerates, but the pilot doesn’t, even if only for a tiny fraction of a second. The seat is moving up an inch or two, and the pilot’s weight is busy compressing the padding. The seat then slams into the pilot almost inevitably causing serious spinal injury, above and beyond the normal risks of injury in any ejection.

The Navy is well aware of the challenge, and actually has a program working to come up with a more comfortable seat.

Ejection Seat Endurance (ESE)

Mission

The seat endurance program will provide for the development, integration and evaluation of ejection seat endurance improvements in T-45, F/A-18A-F, EA-18G, EA-6B and AV-8B/TAV-8B aircraft. Using current technology and leveraging off current programs, new cushion systems will reduce aircrew fatigue especially during long duration flights, while maintaining ejection performance.

Description

The seat endurance improvements will incorporate energy-absorbing seat cushions into each ejection seat. The seat endurance system will increase aircrew endurance and mission effectiveness by providing improved pressure distribution, thermal management, and improved moisture absorption while maintaining critical seat performance requirements.

The Army, I will note, does not seem to have a parallel program for making the gunner and BC seats more comfortable in the Bradley.