Yak-130 Paris Air Show

[willedoo]

Yak-130 helmet cam at Le Bourget 2013.

 

 

Cheers,Willie.

 

 

[siznaudin]

Here's a REALLY dumb question (but I'm not frightened to admit to my ignorance...)

 

What are the squiggly line thingos in the canopy. If heating elements, then why the need for squiggly rather than straight?

 

Amswers in a plain brown envelope please...:confused:

 

 

[Guest David C]

Siz ... I think they are the detonator cords for the canopy in the event of a ejection , I'm possibly wrong though , however , if anyone else can post the answer in a brown paper envelope I'd be interested too

 

Dave C

 

 

[red750]

Part of the ejection mechanism. See explanation from Wikipedia below.

 

On many high-performance military aircraft, the canopy is an integral part of the ejection seat system. The pilot cannot be ejected from the aircraft until the canopy is no longer in the path of the ejection seat. In most ejection seat equipped aircraft, the canopy is blown upwards and rearwards by explosive charges. The relative wind then blows the canopy away from the ejection path. However, on some aircraft, such as the AV-8B Harrier II, the pilot may be forced to eject when in a hover, or when going too slow for the relative wind to move the canopy out of the path of the ejection seat. In that situation, the pilot could possibly impact the canopy when ejecting. To overcome that possibility, some aircraft have a thin cord of plastic explosive zig-zagging across the canopy over the pilot's head. In the event of an ejection, the explosive cord is activated first, shattering the canopy. Then the ejection seat (and pilot) are launched through the shattered canopy.

 

.

 

 

[willedoo]

Thanks for stepping up to the plate, Siz - I've always wondered about that and never bothered to find out.

 

Haven't checked it out thoroughly, but I'd guess Dave and Peter are on the mark. Apparently the Yak-130 has Zero-Zero ejection seats providing through-canopy escape.

 

From Irkut's website -' Each cabin accommodates an ejection seat with the through-canopy ejection capability to ensure safe emergency escape.'

 

From www.redstar.gr:

 

'LIFE SUPPORT AND ESCAPE SYSTEMS

 

"Zero-zero" type ejection seats allow crew to leave the aircraft in emergency through the canopy glass at airspeeds ranging from 0 to 1,050 km/h and all altitude range of aircraft. The canopy glass is fragmented by pyrotechnic cords of the glass breakup system after ejection has been initiated.'

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

PS - the redstar website quoted above is Greek, but has an English version by clicking the British flag near the top right of the page. It has a lot of good photo galleries in amongst the links.

 

 

[siznaudin]

Crikey...makes the use of the ejection seat just that much more exciting - as if it were necessary!:eek:

 

Many thanks Peter & Willie - much appreciated. [ATTACH=full]1847[/ATTACH]