A STUDY OF OPEN SEAT AIRCRAFT EMERGENCY ESCAPE SYSTEMS

A study of open seat aircraft emergency escape systems is presented. Special attention is directed toward thrust requirements necessary to achieve improved seat trajectories. A two-dimensional, three degrees-of-freedom mathematical model of a rocket-powered ejection seat trajectory, including means of attitude stabilization, has been formulated. This resulting mathematical model has been programmed on both a digital computer and an analog computer. On the basis of available aerodynamic and trajectory data, a representative ejection seat configuration was selected for study. Typical trajectories were computed using the mathematical model. Parametric studies directed toward providing a guide for achieving improved escape trajectories were conducted and summarizing graphs are presented. These parameters include aircraft velocity, aircraft pitch angle, main rocket size, vernier rocket thrust, and thrust misalignment.