Jermo Lindbergh, a former commander of the defense forces, says that the back and limbs in particular have explosive power when put to the test.
Former Commander of the Defense Forces, current Member of Parliament Jermo Lindbergh (Kök) says that with the information published so far, it is very difficult to assess whether the crash of the Hawk jet training aircraft was, for example, a technical fault, pilot or Mistake made by some other circumstance.
Read more: IAF’s Hawk jet crashes in central Finland – pilot survived thanks to ejection seat
The Hawk jet trainer of the Air Force crashed south of Keru at 2 pm. Both the pilots of the two-seater aircraft survived because of the ejection seat.
Police are monitoring the situation near the accident site. Photo: Marku Pilima / Sur-Keru
Lindbergh says that the ejection seat can be used as planned or suddenly. Hawk’s flight speed and altitude are not reported in this case, so Lindbergh can’t say which option it is.
On a general level, Lindbergh says that in some cases, you have time and are able to prepare to use the ejection seat.
– If the plane flies at a higher altitude, then it gives more time in any case. Or if the pilot notices during flight that, for example, the landing gear is not working, he can assess which is the safer approach: try to land anyway or use an ejection seat. In this case, says Lindbergh, he has time to divert the plane to uninhabited areas and an ejection seat can perform the rescue.
Lindbergh reminds us that there are always risks in using a throw seat. The ejection seat throws the pilot a few tens of meters out of the plane with lightning speed. In this case, tremendous forces are applied to the body.
The pilot must have the correct seating position and keep the spine tight against the backrest, says Lindbergh, so that the acceleration of the seat does not cause injury.
Another point is that the limbs must also be firmly attached to the bench. When the throwing seat is launched, the air resistance is so strong that if the limbs swing violently, an injury to the arm or leg will occur.
Lindbergh says that an auxiliary parachute is first released from the ejection seat, which slows down and stabilizes the flight path of the seat. Only after that the real parachute opens.
According to Jarmo Lindbergh, former Commander of the Defense Forces, there are many risks associated with the use of an ejection seat. Photo: Kalle Koponen
– It’s the same phenomenon in reverse. If the actual parachute opened immediately, says Lindbergh, the deceleration would be so strong that it would be dangerous.
From what little information we have so far, both the pilots have successfully ejected from the plane. And of course that’s the most important thing, says Lindbergh.
