Phantom flight

I remember (dimly) the TAC crew who ran spin tests in the F4 back
around 1967 and then went around briefing crews. They came down to
Homestead while I was going throught the F4 RTU. They described the
flat spin and how finally they both ejected and neither ejection did
anything to force the nose down enough to break the spin. They also
said if the tail surfaces were about 8 feet further back from the wing
recovery from a flat spin would have been possible. As for ejection
sensations - FWIW a Martin-Baker H7 ejection isn't punishing at all.
the only odd effect I noticed is that the powerful upward push and
acceleration pulls your eyelids. As soon as the telescoping catapult
tubes parted the powder gases dissipated, that hard push stopped and
the lanyard-fired rocket took over. You can see again and you can hear
the rocket hissing away. (Helmet soaks up the real noise) Looking down
you can see the airplane apparently dropping below you - way below you
- and the hole you just came out of. The rocket quits and you're still
going up, maybe 250 feet above the airplane now. Then there's an
audible click as the drogue chute deploys followed by a sudden yank as
it fills and the seat is yanked up to coast butt-first into the
airstream. (we were only at about 215 IAS at 1500 when I initiated the
ejection sequence). One startling thing for me was that apparently
something was awry, perhaps because ISTR I was slightly canted to one
side) and the seat started to spin rapidly around the longitudinal
axis. I remember thinking "If I have to go manual now this will be
difficult . . ." thinking about manual seat separation and ripcord
pulling. The spin was rapid enough to be quite disorienting. But then
the main chute deployed and I was yanked firmly from the seat. It was
all very cool from then on - I landed in blowdown and second growth
following a hurricane about a dozen years before and the landing was so
well cushioned my feet were about a foot above the ground when I
stopped.
Of course the early seats were punishers before a) pilots started
getting back injuries and b) the physiologists and the seat designers
got together and observed some design limitations inherent in homo sap,
like 15 G was too brutal and 8G was okay. One comment - from the time
I pulled the D-ring until the seat fired seemed about five full
seconds. It didn't fire immediately and I started to look down to make
sure I had the handle - dumb thought! but then my mind said "Don't look
down - you'll hurt your back!" so I stayed erect and then the seat
fired. This seemed to take about 5 seconds - according to the Dash One
it's just 0.54 seconds from pull to fire. Shows how adrenalin speeds
up thought in 'combat mode'.
Walt BJ