posted on Jul, 29 2006 @ 04:29 AM
ok , i said it was a daft question , but :
do aircrew in aircraft without ejector seats still carry parachutes ?
the reason i ask is that while reviewing and indexing a load of my aviation photos ,
almost ALL of WWII era flight crew carried chutes
where as looking at more modern aircrew shots - i have noticed a distinct absence of harnesses amongst tanker , transport etc crews
i know jump masters wear a chute during airborne and parachute drops for obvious reasons .
do flight deck crew leave thier chute / harness in thier seat and buckle in when seated ? so thats why no pictures i am looking at show thier
harnesses ??
the 2 pictures that got me thinking were , this :
captioned as a KC-135 pilot , now thats a big survival vest to be buckling a cgute harness over
and this :
i realise both these are posed shots - so may not be entirely realistic
so who better to ask than ATS
??
is there still a doctorine to set the autopilot [ if it still works ] or attempt to put the aircraft in a shallow climb and dash for the exit ?
or are they expected to attempt a landing ??