On 5/28/06 6:27 AM, in article ,
"John Carrier" wrote:


"John Weiss" jrweiss98155nospamatnospamcomcastdotnospamnet wrote in
message ...
"John Carrier" wrote...
One of the peculiarities of the A-6 was its lack of a command ejection
system. There was some kind of reverse (perverse) logic in the community
that had sufficient following to keep it that way (IIRC) for the life of
the aircraft.

Part of it had to do with the lack of automatic canopy sequencing. You
could go through the canopy or after the canopy, but not while it was in
transit (because of the forward bow). If one Crewmember hit the canopy
jettison while the other pulled the ejection handle, it was bad news for
at least one of them -- both if the canopy got hung up on the first
seat...

I think a canopy interlock would have been simple to engineer. Certainly
part of the engineering to retrofit command ejection.

R / John



The A-6 got command eject in about 1994. I flew several jets that had it,
and it was a simple mod. It was a shame that the jet got it only 3 years
prior to retirement. Too little, too late.

--Woody