Ejecting from an F15 fighter jet at supersonic speed

Captain Brian Udell survived ejection at over 800 mph, but just barely.

In a training exercise gone wrong back in 1989, Capt. Brian Udell had to eject from his F-15 while flying supersonic. The force of the air on his body was so strong that it nearly killed him. Here is Udell explaining what happened.
The wind tore his helmet off, broke every blood vessel in his head and face, dislocated his left elbow so that it was pointed backwards and snapped both of his legs in half.

The wind tore his helmet off, broke every blood vessel in his head and face, dislocated his left elbow so that it was pointed backwards and snapped both of his legs in half.

How is this man not dead?

Tearing every blood vessel in your head equals brain bleeding equals blood clot on the brain equals stroke equals heart attack equals death or permanent disability / coma .... what am i missing about basic biology here?

originally posted by: 0racle

The wind tore his helmet off, broke every blood vessel in his head and face, dislocated his left elbow so that it was pointed backwards and snapped both of his legs in half.

How is this man not dead?

Tearing every blood vessel in your head equals brain bleeding equals blood clot on the brain equals stroke equals heart attack equals death or permanent disability / coma .... what am i missing about basic biology here?

Head as in the skin. It’s probably similar to getting in a fight with a boxer that punches your face bare fisted. That doesn’t really make you have a stroke. It would hurt like s### but I think the force from the punches would be more dangerous as the force would be more easily transmitted into the brain.

didnt see a link, but here is one for breif synopsis.
scary stuff.

a reply to: Rikku

Thanks so much for posting that link!
I should have done more than just the YT vid. I'm lazy tonight!

what i find more impressive are the sr-71 pilots who were forcibly ejected when their drone struck the plane, sending them out at mach 3 and both survived that fine, albiet one drowned in the ocean after he popped his visor. so get the right equipment and your good to go. im sure the thinner air helped abit aswell. cant even begin to imagine what that must feel like cause sticking your hand out a window at 100mph in a car is quite the jolt. im curious if he knows if he stayed conscious the whole time. it sounds as if he was but who knows its hard to piece together memories in a traumatic experience like that. we really need to somehow develop a system that will right a plane in training conditions like that. i can understand him not knowing what is up down left or right being out over the ocean but a computer knows it constantly and id imagine should be able to help, maybe not 100% of the time but if it just saves one pilot and an airframe it would be worth it to me.

a reply to: TheScale

the sr-71 pilots

Oh yea. This is one of my favorite SR71 stories. There's tons of them, some of the most wild sounding turn out to be true!

a reply to: ColeYounger

Last summer my daughter convinced me to ride a roller coaster, I'm in my 50's. My organs exchanged places inside me and felt sick for 2 days.

I don't understand how this brave man survived such an experience. There is a God.

originally posted by: TheScale
what i find more impressive are the sr-71 pilots who were forcibly ejected when their drone struck the plane, sending them out at mach 3 and both survived that fine, albiet one drowned in the ocean after he popped his visor. so get the right equipment and your good to go. im sure the thinner air helped abit aswell. cant even begin to imagine what that must feel like cause sticking your hand out a window at 100mph in a car is quite the jolt. im curious if he knows if he stayed conscious the whole time. it sounds as if he was but who knows its hard to piece together memories in a traumatic experience like that. we really need to somehow develop a system that will right a plane in training conditions like that. i can understand him not knowing what is up down left or right being out over the ocean but a computer knows it constantly and id imagine should be able to help, maybe not 100% of the time but if it just saves one pilot and an airframe it would be worth it to me.

There was an air force pilot who parachuted through a thunderstorm and spent 40 minutes trying to avoid being drowned, beaten to death by hail and electrocuted by lightning.

en.wikipedia.org...

I knew a guy who had to eject out of a T-38 once. Canopy failed to separate and he went through it. He lived, but was 2" shorter afterwards (compressed vertebrae) and it ended his flying career. He would say it was the single most violent event he could even imagine (not going through the canopy, but just the ejection itself).

How about start trek movie Kirk space dived from orbit to stop the Romulians from destroying Vulcan .

Now the question is could we find a way to make that possible ?
Take about extreme sports lol .

These guys got as close to it as possible at this time and lived to tell the story .
Ps never trust a Romulian .