What happens a pilot ejects at 90,000 feet with oxygen masy and a parachute?

Question

Does he able to land safely. Also till what altitudes a pilot can actually use a parachute. Please explain

Answer 1

The question from Loganatha... I would assume is refering to either military aircraft, the space shuttle or a high altitude balloon. I haven't flown any of those, but I am a Citation X pilot. The Citation X is currently the fastest civilian jet and has a service ceiling of 51,000 feet. As stated in the answers from Kelly S and Curious E, a space suit is needed to survive such an ejection, not merely an oxygen mask. That said, an explanation of the effects of high altitude to the body can help.

Hypoxia is a state of oxygen deficiency that will impair functions of the brain and other organs. Hypoxia from exposure to altitude is due only to reduced pressures because the concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere remains about 21 percent from the ground out to space. Pressure is needed in order to push the oxygen from the lungs to the blood.

Pressure exerted by the atmosphere can be measured with mercury, which is a fluid metal at room temperature. This is done by allowing the air to push down on the mercury and up into a glass tube of standard size and then counting the number of inches the mercury travels up the tube. At sea level, the mercury is pushed up nearly 30 inches, while at 18,000 feet it's about 15 inches. The typical temperature at 18,000 feet is about -5 degrees F. Without pressurization or supplemental oxygen when flying level at 18,000 feet, a pilot would be unable to function normally after 20 to 30 minutes, followed by loss of consciousness.

Above 35,000 feet, the temperature stabilizes at -65 to -70 degrees F, while pressure ranges from 7 inches at 35,000 feet to 1.3 inches at 70,000 feet.

Pilots of civilian jets do not use pressure suits, rather they may have available quick-donning oxygen masks to use in case of a sudden depressurization of the aircraft at high altitudes. An emergency descent would be used in such an event down to 15,000 feet where the masks can be safely removed.

Answer 2

Ok anything above 50-60K feet will result in death. two main reasons.

1. The temp in that high is Extremely cold...were talking -30. so you would freeze to death before you reach a safe altitude.

2. most O2 bottles wont last but 5-10 minutes so if your not under 14K feet by the time your O2 runs out you die of hypoxia.

Hope that helps most fighter ejetcions seats have an altimeter not to open the parachutes until about 20K feet. And the other chutes the Military uses for bail out purposes only IE cargo planes AWACS ect... have a timer delay so it will not open until your hopefully below a safe alt.

Answer 3

All correct you would die from pressure/exposure/oxygen deprivation. If you allow your self a competent ejection seat and special suit the options are wide open.

Contrary to some of the answers there have been planes designed to travel well beyond 80,000 feet.

The x-15 was designed to fly at 800,000 feet (no typo!) but only reach 375,000 feet in its test program. The ejection seat was designed for 120,000 feet and Mach 4 and also 0/0. Even compared to the capsule seats on the Valkyrie the X-15 is still thought of as the most complicated ejection seat ever built. It has blast-shield to shield the pilots face (and a set for his legs), heaters for the helmet, 2 oxygen systems. It would automatically separate at 15,000 feet if the pilot didn't do this manually.

Kelley S: Joe fell from 102,000 feet and no confirmation was ever made of the exact speed he fell and it is doubtful he went Supersonic but probably got damn close to the wall.

Answer 4

Besides all of the above info, some if it good, some bad, a pilot would never eject that high. He is already in the safe confines of his airplane, and would ride it as far as he could.

There have been parachute jumps from that kind of altitude, but those guys had all necessary equipment to survive.

Answer 5

Among all the answers here, only Kelley S mentioned the 50,000 feet cutoff limit.

Yes, once you approach 45,000 feet, you will need close to a space suit to ensure you are going to last 1 minute outside your aircraft. Its extremely cold with very low pressure and air resistance.

To eject and deploy your parachute at that altitude means death, you won't last more than 1 minute without heavy insulation.

Plus the fact that with a parachute deployed at that altitude, you will be stuck freezing your butt off rather than getting down to Earth safely.

Answer 6

Most answers here are wrong. I just so happened to have given an incentive ride in a USAF T-6 Texan II to a man who jumped out of a balloon at 110,000 feet. I gave him his incentive ride back on January 3rd, 2006 at Vance AFB. He is in the Guiness Book of World Records for jumping out of the balloon at this altitude. He holds the world records for fastest free falling person, highest jump ever, and the only person to have ever traveled supersonically without an aircraft.

Anytime you fly over 50,000 feet you are going to be in a space suit. This is true of every single military aircraft, worldwide. Furthermore, U-2 pilots will purge their bodies completely of nitrogen before they go fly at the extreme altitudes that they fly at. This do this by sitting in their space suit, breathing 100% pure oxygen for about an hour before every flight.

When you eject out of an airplane at high altitude you are going to free fall to a lower altitude at which point your parachute is going to automatically open. Each ejection system is slightly different and some of them can be adjusted for ejecting over high terrain. Also, even while free-falling the parachute can still be deployed manually. Now, it is never advisable to open a parachute until you reach a lower altitude. The reason why is because when you eject at extremely high altitudes, your terminal velocity towards the ground will be much greater because the air is very thin. As you reach thicker air (as you get lower) your body's velocity towards the ground will get slower and slower. In other words, your terminal velocity decreases. If you open the parachute at too high of an altitude you will be traveling at too high of a speed and the "opening shock" can badly injure or kill you. As such, most ejection systems are going to let you free fall to about 10,000-14,000, depending on the system, until the parachute automatically opens. Again, however, the parachute can be manually opened any time prior to this.

Answer 7

I don't know of any planes going up to 90,000 feet high. The difference of air pressure and the speed at which you are falling would make you unable to breathe even with an oxygen mask. The temperature is way too low at this height and G forces would be way too high for a human body to survive this.

Answer 8

Ejection at 90,000 feet is certain death. It is extremely cold at that altitude. He would freeze to death before he got to a warmer altitude. Even at 35,000 feet, the ambient temperature is about 50 below zero Farenheit. No aircraft I know of that is flying today climbs to 90,000 feet. The SR-71 Blackbird has been in mothballs for over 15 years now. It had a ceiling of about 80,000 feet. It's actual ceiling is classified, as is its speed and range...

Answer 9

it is possible to survive....

it is very cold at that altitude, so the pilot would have to get down pretty quick to where the air is less cold. if he did a freefall he should be able to make it down to warmer air pretty quickly. and i bet the flight suit would help him keep warm far longer than jeans and a tshirt would.

also, there is not enough oxygen to breathe that high, and the pilot would have to drop to 15000 ft before he could breathe without an exygen mask. that means, again, a freefall to make it to that altitude before the exygen tank runs out.

Answer 10

No uncomplicated individual could pass approximately leaping from a top of 40 thousand ft. it could in easy terms be a individual who's suicidal services, and has desperate to end his existence. and that's precisely what is going to take place.