Quote Originally Posted by NeoCracker View Post
Couldn't the ejector seat be rigged to shoot out the side or bottom or something? I wouldn't think it would have to shoot up.
See the only issue with such a seat is low altitude and also the fact that shooting out the side or below an aircraft which is about to crash would be a bad idea, the seat would risk either being hit by the wreckage of the craft or shooting the pilot with terminal force in to the ground or in rare instances the seat could land right where the craft does turning the pilot who thought he'd live in to a pancake. Ejector seats go up because in the vast majority of crashes the speed of the wreckage and the forces of gravity mean it would land clear of the crash site by several hundred meters, also they shoot up to gain height so that a chute might actually slow the pilot's descent from terminal or even severe injury acquiring speeds to a speed where he will walk away making the rescue of the pilot easier....why I know such things I do not know.