this article has been published by the Oceana Jet Observer and the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) WebSite.

Ejection, the only way out
in mid-air
By JO2 David Hites
April 14, 1999 - Release No. 29-99

An F-14 pilot loses both engines and the plane is going down. There is no hope for a recovery. The ejection seat and his parachute are his last hope. The pilot pulls the handle, the canopy separates from the plane and he and his radar intercept officer (RIO) are rocketed away from certain death.

This is where the ejection seat shop shines. This group of Sailors inspect and maintain these life-saving devices. Many components of an aircraft can fail or beocme disabled – and it’s flight crew will still survive to fly another day. There are no second chances with ejection seats.

"The pilots do a preflight check on the seat every time before they go up," said AME2 George Gravier of VF-14. "And we check them every night to make sure they’re good to go," he continued.

Every time a seat is worked on or inspected, a signature goes with it. "Everything we do is recorded," said Gravier. Accountability is everything in this business. If a plane goes down and a pilot or crew member dies due to negligence on the part of the inspector, he/she could be court-martialed. That’s why procedures are strictly followed. F-14 jets use a Martin Baker GRU7 seats, which are "old but reliable," according to Gravier. The GRU7 seats are one of several types used aboard airwing aircraft. F-18 jets use an SJU17(V)1A seat, which is partially manual, but also relies on electronics.

"I like working on the GRU7 because I can physically look at it and know it’s going to work," said AME2(AW) Sean Bush. There are back-ups for most systems on an aircraft to minimize risk to the pilots and the aircraft. Both the pilot and the RIO in an F-14 can pull the ejection handle for the other. "(On the GRU7 seat), you’ve got a primary firing handle above the head and a secondary between the legs," said Gravier, from Pequannock, N.J.  The GRU7 seat ejects with a pressure of 4,800 psi through a rocket motor in less than a second. It weighs 275 lbs. and requires a crane to remove.

"It takes about two hours on the average to remove or install a seat," said Gravier. They have to be taken out and inspected every 224 days (eight months). A quality assurance representative must be present for installation because of the accuracy that must always be maintained when lives are at stake.

"It’s scary when you hear there’s a bird in the water. I start thinking... did I miss something, did I do something wrong..." said Bush, from Weirton, W.Va. "I’ve lost three air crew and it still hurts, and I think about what I might have missed that could have saved them, even though the investigation cleared me of any wrongdoing.

Nothing makes these guys happier than to hear that a pilot was recovered safely after going down. "If a pilot walks through the door and says ‘Thank you,’ it’s a great feeling. I know I did my job right," said Bush proudly.