Articles

How have evolving safety criteria affected the development of the ACES 5® ejection seat?

Chris "Elroy" Stricklin began a new morning ritual on Sept. 15, 2003 — the day after he ejected from his U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds F-16 fighter jet in an ACES II® ejection seat.

Collins was recently awarded a sole-source $700 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the delta qualification, production and fielding of a next generation ejection seat for various Air Force aircraft.

Don “Dozer” Borchelt discusses the technological evolution from the ACES II® seat to the ACES 5® next-generation ejection seat.

Thanks to our ACES® II ejection seat, this pilot is safe and lives to fly another day.

ACES 5’s unique features include a faster deploying drogue parachute and a stability package (STAPAC) to compensate for pitch changes due to varied aircrew weight and aerodynamic effects, thereby reducing the risk for injury.

A small team of Collins Aerospace employees within our Ejection Seats & Propulsion business in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was honored recently for designing an innovative seat retrofit kit and qualifying it to meet the latest U.S. Air Force airworthiness requirements.

The U.S. Air Force recently notified Collins Aerospace of its intent to sole-source the Next Generation Ejection Seat (NGES) program with our ACES 5® ejection seat.

When then-U.S. Air Force (USAF) Lt. Col. Bob Harvey took off in his F-16 for a training mission at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina on Nov. 19, 1998, he had no idea he wouldn’t be landing as usual. Almost at the very instant he raised his landing gear, his engine immediately shut down.

With recent appearances at SAFE EU and the Paris Air Show, the ACES 5 ejection seat and team have been a busy.

Collins Aerospace has conducted several major reviews on the upgraded version of its ACES II ejection seat for the U.S. Air Force’s Safety and Sustainment Improvement Program (SSIP) for B-2 bombers. After closing out final action items, deliveries are on track to begin this summer.

Credited with saving more than 664 lives since 1978, another ACES save can be added to that counter when a pilot had to eject from a F-16.

In our first profile, meet John "Barney" Fyfe. As Director of Air Force Programs, Barney interfaces with US and international Air Forces, Joint Staff and the Office of the Secretary of Defense to promote safety and awareness of ACES 5.

When the U.S. Air Force flies its new advanced pilot trainer from Boeing and Saab, it will be equipped with an ACES 5® ejection seat from Collins Aerospace, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), along with a fully integrated landing gear system.

United Technologies Corp (UTC) will start deliveries this year of its upgraded ejection seat for the Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit bomber, according to a company spokesman.

The ACES 5 team recently completed the latest in a series of tests. To simulate realistic conditions, the rocket-powered test rig accelerated to 600 KEAS (Knots Equivalent Airspeed) before successfully ejecting two advanced flight test manikins on ACES 5 seats. Several media outlets joined, resulting in the coverage below.

After a spirited competition, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) has selected the Boeing/Saab team to provide 350 state-of-the-art T-X trainer aircraft and associated ground-based training systems.

Rising from the flat landscape known as Hurricane Mesa is the only private supersonic-capable aircraft ejection test track in the United States, owned and operated by UTC Aerospace Systems. It’s here where LOIS has worked the test track for decades.

The ACES 5, which could also see use in the forthcoming T-X trainer jet, uses everything from nets to gyroscopic rockets to carry pilots from a plane that flies 50,000 feet off the ground at near supersonic speeds to the ground with minimal risk.

Air Forces around the world depend on us, and so do the families of these intrepid airmen. When an aircrew is forced to eject, they, their families, and their countrymen and women trust we did our job perfectly and they are sitting in an ejection seat with the latest advancements and technology available.

The latest addition to the UTC Aerospace Systems family of Advanced Concept Ejection Seats, the ACES 5® incorporates significant safety and cost saving upgrades. Engineers have combined the unparalleled spinal safety performance of the ACES II® ejection seat with next-generation head, neck, and limb protection for all aviators.

Imagine you are piloting a B-2 Spirit and your bomber has experienced some type of catastrophic damage or system failure. You assess the situation—it’s clear that the aircraft is no longer flyable, and you and your co-pilot need to eject.

At 3 G’s, you’re feeling triple the pull on every pound of your body and whatever is attached to it. That means a 150-pound airman with 50 pounds of flight gear would experience 600 pounds of force. During an ejection, you would experience at least 8 G’s of force on your body.