Glad u said "MOST" of the time. LOL.. unless you flew on this guy like I did for 8 years (the below pic is actually my bird when I was at Gielenkirchen (germany) supporting NATO.
There is a bailout chute in every AWACS airplane - it was a $6 million dollar modification PER JET (33 jets in inventory, 1 was lost due to a bird strike in Alaska). When they started the testing they used a 220lb dummy - charged the system and that dummy only cleared the plane by 3 inches... the dummy cleared out about 20 antennaes along the underside of a plane going 300 mph. LOL.
The ONLY way a person could ACTUALLY use the bail-out chute w/out hitting antennaes is if they weighed 350lbs. Well, if u weigh 350lbs you're NOT gonna be in the Air Force, much LESS be on flying status. LOL. So they decided that the bail-out chute would not be used and removed all parachutes from the airframe.
There was an on-going joke that if we ever needed to use the bail-out chute, the lowest ranking man gets to go 1st (so he would die by clearing the million and one antennas under the jet). LOL
Another note about bailing out of a Boeing 707... if the pilot can hold the plane at the proper attitude, altitude and speed for SUCCESSFUL bail-outs, then that means that there's nothing wrong w/ the plane - so why are you trying to jump out of it. LOL. If the plane is functioning good enuff to maintain those specs, then it's functioning good enough to land it.
Way to go America --- your tax dollars at work.
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BABY J / 1997 / Welcome Home From Cairo - supporting Bright Star
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"I'm not a gynecologist... but I'll take a look."![]()
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