Success for F-35 ejection seat test
Despite budget overruns and software failures, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning stealth fighter should go on active duty later this decade. And if anything should go wrong with one of these multimillion-dollar planes, the pilot should be able to escape safely. Last week, a full-scale mock-up of the cockpit was strapped to a rocket sled and shot down a track in Chalgrove, UK, at over 950 kilometres per hour. When an “eject” handle was pulled, small explosives broke away the canopy, the ejection system fired, and the parachute opened – all inside 3 seconds.
A barcode…
