Interesting story, I'm just getting a fix on the technical problem.
See Drouge Gun location
UPGRADE
Mk. GRU-7(A)
http://www.ejectionsite.com/mk7seats.htm
Quote:
It is the direct decendant of the GRU-5 seat used in the early A-6 Intruder aircraft. That seat became the GRU-7 seat (with many modifications)...............
The underseat rocket is a gas initiated unit with a separate initiator actuated by a trip rod assembly and lanyard on the side of the drogue gun unit. The lower down parachute box slims down the area at the top of the seat to allow for better rearward visibility. A curved guard was added to protect the linkages of the timer release mechanism and the drogue gun unit as well as the rocket initiator.
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Irish Luck - Surviving Partial Ejection from A-6 Aircraft
Quote:
During the accident investigation the seat was found and it was determined that the drogue gun caused the problem. After my accident, the safety center identified five or six other flight accidents that had resulted in fatalities and one probable hanger incident that could have been caused by the drogue gun problem. The A-6 fleet of GRU-5 (Martin Baker Back breaker) seats were inspected for excessive play/tolerances in the drogue gun firing mechanism and were replaced. John and I were very fortunate in that we survived and were not
injured. I was flying again in 2 weeks and John continued to fly after a short layoff.
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http://www.ejectionsite.com/a10aces.htm
I've known about the ejection seat rocketing out, but never really thought about the chute needing it's own deployment charge.
Guess I figured gravity and wind motion would do the work.
Thinking back to the videos of low level escapes where the chute deploys even when the chair is upside down it all comes together now.