Canopy - This is the clear cover that encapsulates the cockpit of some planes it is often seen on military fighter jets.Bucket - This is the lower part of the ejection seat that contains the survival equipment.These hatches blow just before the ejection seat is activated, giving crewmembers an escape portal.Ī pilot prepares to pull down the face curtain that will launch the ejection seat up the track of the ejection-seat trainer. Those that don't will have escape hatches built into the roof of the plane. 'Egress' means 'a way out' or 'exit.' Another part of the overall egress system is the plane's canopy, which has to be jettisoned prior to the ejection seat being launched from the aircraft. These seats also double as restraint systems for the crewmembers both during an ejection and during normal operation.Įjection seats are just one part of a larger system called the assisted egress system. In some models, the rocket and catapult are combined into one device. In the event of an ejection, the catapult fires the seat up the rails, the rocket fires to propel the seat higher and the parachute opens to allow for a safe landing. At 20 Gs, a pilot experiences a force equal to 20 times his or her body weight, which can cause severe injury and even death. The force of ejecting at those speeds can reach in excess of 20 Gs - one G is the force of Earth's gravity. Following six days of evading capture and eating insects for survival, O'Grady was rescued.Įjecting from an aircraft moving at speeds greater than the speed of sound (mach 1: 750 miles per hour / 1,207 kph) can be very dangerous. Soon after, his parachute deployed and, like 90 percent of pilots who are forced to eject from their aircraft, O'Grady survived the ejection from his F-16. After a loud bang caused by the canopy separating, O'Grady was blasted into the air along with his seat. With the plane disintegrating around him, O'Grady reached down between his knees and grabbed the pull handle of his ejection seat. Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady was helping to enforce the no-fly zone over northern Bosnia on June 2, 1995, when a Bosnian-Serb surface-to-air missile (SAM) struck his F-16.

Jettison canopy rescue