C'est magnifique, mais... | Vital Football

C'est magnifique, mais...

That's some retirement gift where do I register?

I couldn't read the whole article but got the gist of it. Someone is in deep trouble

Did they lose the aircraft ? Presumably pilot ejected as well?
 
That story brought back some memories, not that I ever departed an aircraft in such a way, but the ejector seat was a thorny issue back in the sixties with the V -bombers.
 
Something very French about the whole story. The British equivalent would be a £2750 flight in a Spitfire and the " health and safety crap " would last longer than the flight. The thought of a random pensioner being allowed up in an RAF jet fighter is quite foreign. Vive la difference! They like chucking themselves of cliffs too.
 
markinkent said:
That's some retirement gift where do I register?

I couldn't read the whole article but got the gist of it. Someone is in deep trouble

Did they lose the aircraft ? Presumably pilot ejected as well?
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According to the report I read the pilot landed the plane safely.
 
Whitstabletangerine said:
That story brought back some memories, not that I ever departed an aircraft in such a way, but the ejector seat was a thorny issue back in the sixties with the V -bombers.
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Surely handles such as these are painted in bright red with messages like "Under No Circumstances Should You Even Think About Touching This" attached to them.
 
RotherhitheGill said:
In which case you just have to touch it ;)
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Isn't it funny how that works? We were doing some search training at the HQ of a well known TV company and in an office we came across a big red button with a sign next to it that read "do not press".
Well, of course the inevitable happened and it set off a rather loud alarm. We never did find out the purpose of it but had to endure the embarrassment of an angry looking employee coming to reset it 🙄
 
Nobby_66 said:
Isn't it funny how that works? We were doing some search training at the HQ of a well known TV company and in an office we came across a big red button with a sign next to it that read "do not press".
Well, of course the inevitable happened and it set off a rather loud alarm. We never did find out the purpose of it but had to endure the embarrassment of an angry looking employee coming to reset it 🙄
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If even the police can't resist, what hope is there for the rest of us?
 
jokerman said:
Surely handles such as these are painted in bright red with messages like "Under No Circumstances Should You Even Think About Touching This" attached to them.
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Our handles were yelllow/black but the seats also had safety pins although they could be removed, not a wise move unless you wanted to pull the handle and shoot out hoping to God you will clear the tail fin in doing so.
The bone of contention was that only the pilots had ejector seats and the rear crew had only one option, providing they could open the entry/exit door on the port side and the plane was flying level then one by one they would use parachutes in an attempt to save themselves.
On giving the order to abandon the aircraft assuming of course it was 1,000 feet above the ground, the first to go was the co pilot the idea being that at the enquiry that would surly follow would have at least one member of the crew who can give an indication as to what took place.
There were to my knowledge 17 crew members of V bombers who were killed in crashes in my time, more often than not pilots would stay with the aircraft and take their chance rather than abandon the remainder of the crew.
Parliament both under Conservative and Labour governments rejected because of the cost of having rear crews having ejector seats even after the manufacturer Martin-Baker had demonstrated that an ejector seat for the other crew members was possible when their own employee carried out the exercise with the top brass present at the demonstration.
 
Whitstabletangerine said:
Our handles were yelllow/black but the seats also had safety pins although they could be removed, not a wise move unless you wanted to pull the handle and shoot out hoping to God you will clear the tail fin in doing so.
The bone of contention was that only the pilots had ejector seats and the rear crew had only one option, providing they could open the entry/exit door on the port side and the plane was flying level then one by one they would use parachutes in an attempt to save themselves.
On giving the order to abandon the aircraft assuming of course it was 1,000 feet above the ground, the first to go was the co pilot the idea being that at the enquiry that would surly follow would have at least one member of the crew who can give an indication as to what took place.
There were to my knowledge 17 crew members of V bombers who were killed in crashes in my time, more often than not pilots would stay with the aircraft and take their chance rather than abandon the remainder of the crew.
Parliament both under Conservative and Labour governments rejected because of the cost of having rear crews having ejector seats even after the manufacturer Martin-Baker had demonstrated that an ejector seat for the other crew members was possible when their own employee carried out the exercise with the top brass present at the demonstration.
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Very interesting. I'm glad you never had to try it. I bet they compared the costs of extra ejector seats to the cost of training fresh crew and decided it was not worth it.
 
jokerman said:
Very interesting. I'm glad you never had to try it. I bet they compared the costs of extra ejector seats to the cost of training fresh crew and decided it was not worth it.
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Yes in the case of both governments cost became the number one factor even though one particular daily news paper kept plugging away at the necessity of providing the options for the crew.
Incidentally one serious crash took place with a Vulcan in the Michigan area late fifties I believe and although the captain stayed with the aircraft in which all perished the co pilot had ejected as was required in an emergency, he was never found.
 
Whitstable - just read the following "The co-pilot Flt. Lt. Brian Peacock ejected unsuccessfully. His ejection seat was found in the lake near the shore, some 5,000 feet from the crash point, and his body was located on the 19th of June 1959 in shallow water some distance away from the seat" (about 8 months after the crash).
 
RotherhitheGill said:
Whitstable - just read the following "The co-pilot Flt. Lt. Brian Peacock ejected unsuccessfully. His ejection seat was found in the lake near the shore, some 5,000 feet from the crash point, and his body was located on the 19th of June 1959 in shallow water some distance away from the seat" (about 8 months after the crash).
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Thanks for that, I joined a Valiant squadron in the September and had heard of the crash and at the time the co pilot was missing and not found so assumed all my life that was the case,
 
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