The Ridiculous Design Flaw of the Sukhoi Su-24

The story of the Sukhoi Su-24 Bomber development and the 1975 case of the accidentally ejected pilot, which is believed to be the first successful 0-0 ejection from a stationary aircraft.

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[Shinzon]

Okay that is absolutely hilarious, both in how it happened, how their commanders threw the book at them because they didn't have anything else to do to them, and the designers all congratulated them for testing something they hadn't gotten around to yet.

[jfu]

The ejected seat landing on a nearby plane is a hilarious detail that I had not heard before.

[Lord.Kiltridge]

Lots of crewmen dislike their aircraft. But it's noteworthy when an aircraft dislikes a crewman.

[Fiber]

I need to use that “confirm the correctness of design” line at my own job.😅

[CapitalRoach]

I love the animated sections so much, laughing so hard at the pilot looking up at the hole in the canopy to see where his buddy has gone 😆

[laalaastl]

Premature ejection happens to many. Would that we all get a gold watch and personalized helmet out of it!

[anelstarcevic]

there is no such a thing as a short Paper Skies video

[treize]

An entire video to set up a "The plane has balls, but the pilots don't" joke. Bravo, good sir.

[MeduseldRabbit]

Those poor, confused pilots. Not only did they have zero idea what just happened, but their 0-0 test got them both commendations and reprimands, which sort of zeros out. On the bright side, there were zero injuries or deaths.

[darealsherlock]

The "Good Enough, Made in USSR" stamp at 3:10 lol
Merch Idea?

[ritac]

It's embarrassing but I follow the logic

They didn't think about how the stick would go backwards and hook the ejection handle when designing the cockpit layout

Then when they found out, they had two choices: redesign the navigators station, do more testing, possibly reduce navigator visibility by making their display smaller or moving it up higher to allow the stick to be full length

Or

String and duct tape

[robertbalazslorincz]

Man, I love accidentally discovering that the thing I am using is WAY better than I thought it was by ACCIDENTALLY PROVING IT JUST IS THAT WAY 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[gojithecringe]

i remember my grandpa telling a story of a Su-24 pilot that bailed out in 1975 during his visit to the air base. I didnt know what was so special about that story (compared to his experience in Afghanistan), but now i know!

[sixstringedthing]

I loved the bit where the animated ground crewman had his startled "WTF!!" moment when the navigator's seat obeyed the law of gravity and landed on top of the parked aircraft.
Also loved the fact that instead of designing some kind of mechanical lock or figuring out a way to isolate the sticks from the control surfaces, the Soviet solution was "sling a rope with balls over it". Peak Smekalka!

[rafale]

When you dropped the line „however there was one really positive aspect“, i fully expected you to mention the type of aviation cocktail the aircraft made 🍸

[polygonvvitch]

Dude just two days ago I was looking at your channel going "God, wonder when Paper Skies is putting out a new video." 9.5/10 timing, only ~30 hours off.

[Jenner_IIC]

Being an avid video essay watcher I find you describing a 20 minute video as short perfectly fitting

[jaripekkajekunen]

The fact that the pilot survived in that air show with his chute not even opening all the way is just amazing..

[Ganiscol]

It doesnt seem to get any more soviet than to strap the horizontal stabilizers in place with a rope instead of adding a shut-off valve to the hydraulic circuit to keep them horizontal when the system is no longer pressurized - as seen on any excavator for example. 😅

[michaelkarnerfors]

Two related stories from Sweden, including one of the most amusing reasons for losing a JAS-39 Gripen.

First story: when I did my conscription service –1994 ‒ 95 – as an aircraft mechanic on Saab J35J Draken, the cockpit featured — on each corner of the center console — a tiny metal loop, screwed directly into the metal frame. These were for the boot restraints, that pull the pilot's feet close to the seat when ejecting.

But when instructing us, the more seasoned conscript noticed that the manual – yes, we had manuals, with big line-art drawing showing us what do to – said "Lay the straps crossed over the base of the control stick". He called over to the officer in charge: "Oi, lieutenant! We've got an unsafe manual here, this is the old one!"

What was going on?

Well, on June 20, 1991 — after Draken had spent nearly 4 decades in the air without this being an issue — one pilot forgot to strap in the boots. He taxied onto the runway, and took off.

As the main wheels got airborne, he instantly knew something was wrong, as the plane started rolling, and he could not counter it. After just a couple of seconds, he understood that the roll would continue, which — with Draken's poor low speed performance — would lead to vigorous lithobraking. He ejected, was saved, and the plane (serial 35522) became the second to last hull loss for Draken.

What had happened?

Turns out that during the preflight control surface tests — which involved vigorous and large control stick movements — the unfastened boot straps had jammed where the control stick interfaces the floor. This then made it impossible for the pilot to use the stick for roll on take-off.

Hence, the small metal loops were added for us aircraft mechs to put the boot restraints in, to avoid them fouling the control stick again.

And, yes, despite his feet not being pulled in, and despite him being partially responsible for the situation, he did keep his feet, and his wings.

----

Second story: in 2007, a Saab JAS-39 Gripen made an 8.6 g turn to turn downwind at Vidsel airbase. As the pilot rolled out on the downwind leg, the canopy was — unexpectedly — jettisoned. The pilot realised something was about to go very wrong and started reaching for the ejection handle. He did not get that far, because the seat activated on its own, threw the pilot clear of the plane, which subsequently crashed in the Norrland forest next to the main runway.

What had happened? Turns out that this was a JAS-39C, the second generation Gripen. The "Cesars" got bigger cockpit screens. But, the control column got in the way of the lower screen. Okay, we can fix that, move the control column back. But, the ejection seat handle is there! The moved control column made the handle harder to reach. Well, we can fix that too, let us make ejection seat handle rigid, flat and cone-shaped.

Martin-Baker tested this, Saab and the Defence Material Administration signed off on it, and all was peachy.

...until that ejection. The investigation revealed that the seat log said that the handle had been pulled and activated the seat. The pilot assured everyone he had not touched it. But what then, had pulled the handle?

The g-suit had. Remember that 8.6 g turn? When the pants inflated, they had pulled the handle up. Major WTF... Martin-Baker, we tested this, did you do something with the handles after testing?!

Well... we changed supplier of the handles, MB said. Aaand... turns out they did not quite follow the specs used during testing, and so the friction between handle and pants were different compared to when we tested.

Hold on, the Swedish Accident Investigation Board thought, this cannot be the first time something like this has happened. So they called the JAS-39C divisions to ask "Have you had any occurrences where the ejection handle appeared to have come loose?" The reply... "Well, now that you mention it..." there _had_ been such occurrences, where the mechs had to push the handle back down again, in order to get the safety pin in. It was just that they had not used the incident reporting system properly to alert anyone to the issue.