A-7E Corsair II early vs. late seats

[galileo1]

Hey all,

Does anyone know approximately when they switched from the early ESCAPAC to the SJU ejection seats on A-7Es?

Thanks,

[GW8345]

It depends on the squadron but it was around 84 to 86 time frame.

For my squadron (VA-82) we had the early seats on our 85 cruise and the later seats on our 87 cruise.

I'll take a look at the NATOPS when I get home and see if it says anything as far as when the Technical Directive was issued.

hth
Gerry

[GW8345]

Here is the technical info for the seat change.

The technical directive that was issued for the seat was AFC (Airframe Change) 414 and was issued (Released) in June 1983.

Now, using my knowledge of technical directives, esp. ones that would be this big, not all aircraft were modified at the same time. 99.9% of the time there was a schedule set up by the wing as to what squadron got the mod when. Normally there was only so many seat provided to the wing so they would say such and such squadron would go through mod at this/that time, which was determined on their turn around cycle (between cruise time).

So, basically, after June of 83 the seat was available but it depends on what squadron you are doing and the time frame after 83. For us (VA-82), we got our seats during our turn around time for the 87 cruise (1986 time frame). Not all of our aircraft were modified at the same time, we did the seat when the aircraft came in for either a 40 day* special inspection or when it came in for a phase* inspection so you will have to check photos to verify exactly when the squadron got their seats.

The difference between a "xx day special " inspection and a "phase" inspection is that a xx day inspection went by calendar days while a phase went by flight hours. For an example, the A-7 had special inspections that occurred every 10 days (10/20/30/40/120/210) which means even if the bird did not fly, you did an inspection every 10 days, no matter what. The higher number days, the more things that were done on the inspection. If you were doing a 40 day inspection, you also did the requirements of the 10/20/30 day also. Once you got to the 210 (the whole plane was ripped apart, scrubbed and then reassembled, and you prayed that it was put back together correctly) the cycle would start over.

The phase inspections (A-F)went by flight hours (IIRC the A-7 was on a 100 hour cycle) and worked the same way as the special inspection.

IIRC the seat was pulled during the 40 day inspection so that would be when it would have been replace. So in a squadron, when the aircraft came in for a 40 day inspection is when the seat would have been changed. Also, it was not uncommon to have two aircraft in 40 day inspection at the same time so I would say that all the bird in a squadron would have been change over within 6 months of getting the first seat. Also, during the transition period, the squadron would have aircraft with both types seats.

Sorry for the long winded post but want to explain it for everyone to understand.

Gerry

BTW: not all A-7's got the SJU-8/A seat, only BUNO's 156734 and up got the seat.

[galileo1]

Thank you very much for such an in-depth info on this, Gerry! Very, very useful stuff!

[Devo666]

Yep, good stuff for sure.