Overview
The Common Armoured Crew Seat is being developed at Martin-Baker for provision to US military customers. The seat provides exceptionally light weight and has the stretch potential to also provide for an armoured wing to customer requirements. The design and test philosophy will also allow FAA certification of the seat for civilian/para-public helicopters.
The seat incorporates light weight ballistic protection material via a novel lay-up of Boron Carbide ceramic and aramid backing materials. The bucket is contoured to provide enhanced protection at lower weight, minimizes inefficient tile joint areas and also performs as part of the structural load path to provide a mass optimum solution. The seat cushion employs 3D woven materials to deliver higher comfort, better breathability and temperature performance with lower weight, saving around 2lbs mass per seat. The seat bucket is readily removable and light in weight (~44lbs) to allow ease of removal within the cockpit. The attenuation technology is proven and reliable (in service with the CH53 troop seat and the HH-60L attendant’s seat) and does not require any adjustment by the occupant or periodic maintenance.
Specifications
HEIGHT With headrest 49” (124cm)
No headrest 40.9” (102cm)
WIDTH With armrest 22” (56cm)
No armrest 18.6” (46cm)
DISTANCE BETWEEN TRACK CENTRES 15.85” (38cm)
WEIGHT With armrests 85lb (38.6kg)
MIL-S-58095 - With lumbar loads to JSSG-2010-7
MIL-S-810E
4 point harness
Optional Tilt Mechanism: handles lower and tilt seat to facilitate rapid emergency evacuation of injured crew
Designed from the outset to meet the 5%ile female through 95%ile male aviator requirements, as well as compatibility with civilian safety standards.
How it works
A relatively high percentage of helicopter crashes are survivable. This is especially true in modern helicopters with robust structures designed to survive the crash. However, the human body cannot tolerate the crash forces and accelerations. The back and neck are particularly vulnerable to major and often fatal injuries. Our patented crashworthy seat technologies offer reliable and proven solutions to this problem by attenuating crash energy so that forces and accelerations imposed on the seat occupant are below injury thresholds. In the process of attenuating energy, the seat strokes (moves downward) in a controlled fashion. The energy is attenuated by the seat structure over a longer time period and keeps it well below injury thresholds. Martin-Baker has developed the technology and design approach that not only attenuates these loads over a broad weight range, but remains lightweight and affordable.