Ejection Seat: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

{{quote|'''Q:''' Now this I'm particularly proud of. You see the gear-stick here? Now if you take the top off, you'll find a little red button. Whatever you do, don't touch it.

'''Q:''' Because if you do, you'll release this section of the roof, and engage and fire the passenger ejector seat. ''Whoosh!''

'''James Bond:''' Ejector seat? You're joking!

 

 

It should be pointed out that shooting an airman after he or she's ejected is a war crime, though this is a relatively recent idea and wasn't in force until 1977.<ref>Yes, it doesn't make much sense when you think about it. Can you imagine anyone letting a crewman jump out of his tank, wrap a bit of silk around himself and walk away from the battle? Perhaps the most bizarre example of this is that if you shoot down a plane carrying paratroops (who are not granted the same protection), you ''can'' shoot at the parachuting soldiers, but shooting at the plane's actual aircrew is a war crime. Erm... The technical answer is that an airman without a plane is no longer unable to discharge his or her functions and is therefore ''Hors de combat'', whereas paratroops are still able to do some damage. (Tank crews, though...)</ref>

 

Distinct from just Abandon Ship; rather than just getting the heck out of (the) Dodge, a machine's helping you out (the door).

{{examples}}

** [[Failsafe Failure]] is mostly averted, but there are a couple of moments. In one episode, we see a character ({{spoiler|Kewell}}) die when the [[Super Prototype|Guren Mk-II's]] radiant wave fries his machine's internal computers. In another, Lelouch is badly injured because the seat activates when he doesn't have a clear vector of escape, making it bounce off the ground and nearby objects like a rubber ball; it's frankly quite amazing that he didn't get whiplash.

* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Evangelion]]'', the "entry plugs" that the EVA pilots rode in could be ejected in case of emergency. They [[Failsafe Failure|didn't always work]].

** The original Gundam's Core Fighter somewhat subverts this, since its main purpose is to preserve the Gundam's learning computer and its compiled combat data moreso than it is to protect the pilot.

* While most Variable Fighters in the ''[[Macross]]'' universe have standard ejection seats, the VF-25 ''Messiah'' from ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' is unique in that it doesn't have a seat, per se, but the pilots wear exoskeletons/mini-mecha (called EX-Gear) that dock with the cockpit. The pilot can then eject and fly away, even in outer space, using their own self-propelled EX-Gear, which has its own wings, thrusters, and limbs.

* [[Axis Powers Hetalia|Italy and Poland]] both of them used it in different moments. Sadly, they got stuck in a tree immediately after.

 

* Given its appearance in no fewer than two other media, it is a pretty safe assumption that every iteration of [[Batman|the Batmobile]] has an ejector seat.

** The same goes for the [[Cool Plane|Batplane/Batwing]].

** One of the ''Batman vs [[Predator]]'' titles features a borrowed single-pilot police attack helicopter with an ejection seat, which is odd, because there are very few helicopters with ejection seats. There was only one single-pilot attack helicopter produced ever.

* In one ''[[Archie]]'' comic book, Jughead as Captain Hero faces a courteous villain who left his own car via ejection seat, while the car is in motion.

 

== Films -- Animation ==

* At the beginning of ''[[The Incredibles]]'', Mr Incredible uses the ejector seat to get Buddy out of his car.

* ''[[Yellow Submarine]]''. Ringo is steering the sub as they pass through the Sea of Monsters. Old Ferd tells him "Whatever you do, [[Schmuck Bait|don't touch that button]]." Of course Ringo does so, and is ejected out of the submarine.

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'s cars have had ejector seats in ''[[Goldfinger]]'' and ''[[Die Another Day]]''.

** In ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies]]'', [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] uses an ejector to eject an unwanted co-pilot from his stolen fighter jet, downing another plane in the process.

** In ''[[Die Another Day]]'', he uses it as a propellant to flip his Aston Martin back onto its wheels. Oh, and [[High-Speed Missile Dodge|dodge a missile at high speed]].

* The quote at the top of this page comes from ''[[Star Wars]]'' during the assault on the Death Star (unfortunately for him, he gets blown up before he has time to eject). The starfighter is designed so that the cockpit and couch would separate from the fuselage and engines, thus leaving the pilot drifting in what was effectively a survival capsule. The suit is air tight and has a small force field that will keep you breathing for about three or four hours. Now being next to a giant moon-sized space station that explodes isn't exactly survivable so it was still a waste of time.

* ''[[The Cannonball Run]]'' features the Aston Martin DB V from ''[[Goldfinger]]'', complete with ejector seat, driven by [[James Bond|Roger Moore playing a man who thinks that he is Roger Moore]].

* ''[[Space Mutiny]]''. "I LOST POWER!"

* The [[Cool Car|Batmobile]] in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' has an unconventional ejector seat which converts into a kickass Bike from hell.

* Used in the [[Show Within a Show]] ''Austinpussy'' in ''Goldmember''.

{{quote|"This is the end of Devil 505, say goodbye asshole! Eject eject eject!"

"Goodbye asshole!" *ejection seats fire* }}

 

== Literature ==

** Averted with the [[Mookmobile|TIE Fighters]], which are well known among the ''[[Star Wars]]'' community for NOT having ejector seats, among other things, which is used as an example of how [[The Empire]] doesn't give a fig about its, well, anything. [[We Have Reserves|They have reserves]].

* Averted in ''[[The Laundry Series|The Jennifer Morgue]]'' by [[Charles Stross]], which goes into some detail as to why an ejection seat in a car is an insanely bad idea; when Bob Howard presses the eject button on his [[Cool Car]], the ''entire car ejects'', which is only slightly less so. It's made clear that only time you should press the button is if ''not'' pressing it is ''definitely'' going to kill you. The explanation also deflates the idea of the "easy eject"; Bob describes how, due to the G-forces involved, the pilot is likely looking at weeks in traction ''at best''.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* Fighters in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' are often equipped with ejector seats, though rescue is a bit of a crapshoot in space.

* ''[[Knight Rider]]'': KITT's ejection seats never left the car, they simply catapulted the occupant a couple stories in the air. Which makes less sense.

* ''[[Get Smart]]'': Maxwell Smart's car occasionally features an ejector seat. You can imagine how well that works.

* In the [[Stargate Verse]], the F-302, being space-worthy fighters, can eject the whole two-place cockpit, as to make sure the pilots can survive in space. Most of other races' [[Mookmobile|mook mobiles]], like the [[Stargate SG-1|Goa'uld's Death Gliders]] or the [[Stargate Atlantis|Wraith Darts]], have no such equipment.

* In ''[[Farscape]]'', Aeryn is ejected in one of these, with [[Meaningful Funeral|disastrously heart-breaking]] but, of course, [[Death Is Cheap|non-permanent results]].

{{quote|'''Harm:''' "Punching out is the last thing a pilot ever wants to do. People think you get in trouble, pull the magic handle, and float safely to the ground? Every time you punch out you end up an inch shorter."}}

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* Some tau Battlesuits in Warhammer 40k has an option for this.

** The eject button is marked as "Bouncy Bubble Beverage Dispenser" or something along those lines.

** The presence of an ejector seat was not considered when armour plating was added. (See also, head trauma.)

* ''[[BattleTech]]'' has these for its [[Humongous Mecha]], usually with an automatic trigger in case of an ammo explosion that would otherwise destroy the 'Mech and the pilot with it. In some advanced designs, the entire head assembly comes free, but a plain old ejection after popping the canopy is still the default. It may be worth noting that the setting does canonically feature enemies ruthless enough to specifically gun for MechWarriors forced to do this.

* An option for a ''[[Car Wars]]'' vehicle, too. It boasted three accessory packages: a hang glider to fly away, a parachute to waft down, or (the 'Mother-in-law special') absolutely nothing, for the Wile E Coyote impersonation scene. No restrictions on vehicle (although helicopters did lose their rotors after ignition request). Fellow [[Steve Jackson Games]] product ''[[GURPS]] Vehicles'' also, naturally, had these.

 

== Video Games ==

== Web Comics ==

* [[Metal Gear Solid|Liquid Snake]] wound up in Alaska after accidentally ejecting himself from a helicopter in ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]''. He then guesses that he must be in the North Pole, and wonders where the [[Polar Bears and Penguins|penguins]] are.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' examples:

** The animated Batmobile ''does'' have ejector seats, as evidenced in [[Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?|the episode with Earl Cooper]].

* Batman in ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' has an ejector seat in the Batplane. He hovered a finger over the button because Plastic Man was getting on his nerves.

* The first season finale of ''[[Megas XLR]]'' features one of these, with the button "Bet You Can't Guess What This Button Does". Next season, there was an "Eject Skippy" button, conveniently anticipating where the annoying kid would be sitting.

* Freddy installs an ejection seat in the desert racing episode of ''What's New, [[Scooby Doo]]?''.

* The ''[[Swat Kats]]'' Turbo Kat plane has ejector seats for both T-Bone and Razor. The seats could fly independently for some time, and were shown re-docking with the plane in a few cases.

* Brock Sampson of ''[[Venture Brothers]]'' owns a '69 Charger with an ejection seat.

* In the ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode "Elementary, My Dear Stacey", Agent "Double 0" 0's car has an ejector seat. Agent P triggers it.

== Real Life ==

* In real life, 20% of aircraft ejections result in the pilot sustaining career-ending injuries, such as death. Also, 100% of aircraft ejections result in the pilot losing several inches of height, due to the sudden compression of being flung out of your plane at anywhere from 12 to 22 Gs (depending on what ejection seat your plane was equipped with). Most air forces impose a career limit on the number of ejections permissible before it's desk job city for you.

** Before ejection seats were invented, escaping an aircraft by "bailing out" was even more dangerous. If you were lucky, there was a control that would blast off the canopy with explosive charges. If not, you had to open the canopy yourself, either climb out or roll the aircraft over and ''fall'' out, and essentially perform an impromptu skydive. Unlike a normal skydive however, the aircraft is likely to be violently spinning and rapidly losing altitude due to loss of engines, control surfaces, entire wings, or all of the above. If the plane was flying low enough or couldn't be controlled at all, many pilots chose to stay in their planes and die instantly in the crash instead of risk bailing out and dying a slower, more horrible death. At least 50% died on the way out (not counting the ones who didn't make it out at all), and only around a quarter made it back home safely, the rest of the survivors either being taken prisoner or horribly wounded. Early-model Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Bell P-39 Airacobras were notoriously difficult to bail out of because the wind would literally hold the side-folding canopy shut, making it almost impossible to escape the plane.

*** Production Airacobras didn't have sliding canopies, they had ''doors'', but that didn't make them easier to bail out, for a different reason. The relative positions of the cockpit door and the stabilizer effectively made sure that if any pilot taller than a midget would forget to take a fetal position after bailing out, his legs will be broken by a stabilizer, this usually being a career ending injury even if the pilot managed to land on his own territory and was saved by the groung troops. More than a few pilots suffered such a misfortune, the most famous of them being a Soviet ace Boris Glinka (29 victories).

*** The Lockheed P-38 Lightning, likewise, had a nasty habit of killing or permanently injuring anybody attempting to bail out of it. The plane basically had 2 fuselages, with a boomlike horizontal stabilizer stretching the entire width between them. Bailing out of the cockpit (located in the middle between the 2 fuselages) would likely slam you into the boom, whether you curled into a fetal position or not. Rumor has it that it was this plane that inspired the invention of the ejection seat in the first place.

* Ejection system are attached to manned space launchers to blast the manned bit clear if the launcher is danger of exploding on the launchpad. This has only ever been used once for real, when the two-man crew of Soyuz T-10-1, waiting for a trip to Salyut 7 in 1983, were ejected clear of their launcher just before a fire destroyed it.

* In 1975, another Soyuz mission had its capsule ejected while heading for orbit as the third stage was deviating too much.

[[Category:Escape Tropes]]

[[Category:Tropes On a Plane]]