In RISKS-24.71 Paul E. Black quotes "maddogone" as saying, "The tests show it was the G-suit which activated the ejection. ... when it filled with air it pressed against the release handle" In RISKS-24.72 Matt Jaffe <jaffem@cableone.net> quotes him and writes:
I am unfamiliar with the Gripen but back in my day, more decades ago than I care to think about, US ejections seats were activated by handles of one sort or another and none of the handles in the aircraft I am familiar with could be activated by simple pressure (of an inflating G-suit).
In the early 1990's I spoke to a manufacturer of ejector-seats. Ejection was initiated by an upward pull on a handle positioned between the pilot's legs. The procedure was for the pilot to pull on the handle with the right hand, with the left hand gripping the right wrist. My contact explained that this was not because the handle was particularly stiff to operate (although it was not "hair-trigger") but in order to ensure that the pilot took his left arm with him when he left. Little chance of the inflation of a G-suit, or G-force alone, causing unintentional operation in that case. (I don't know if this applied to specifically to the Gripen.) With aerodynamically unstable aircraft, the situation is different. If the FCS goes down, the aircraft might break up within half a second or so, depending on the airspeed and attitude, and I was given to understand that ejection would be automatic, i.e., initiated without manual input from the pilot. Perhaps someone familiar with the Eurofighter could supply some authoritative information. Peter Mellor +44 (0)20 8459 7669 Mobile: 07914 045072 MellorPeter@aol.com ------------------------------