Abstract
Due to an expansion in the pilot population allowed to fly fighter aircraft, there is a need to measure whole-body centers of gravity and moments of inertia of individuals to determine the safety of ejection seats for this broader population. An adjustable seating system has been developed by the Vulnerability Assessment Branch of Armstrong Laboratory (AL/CFBV) and Systems Research Laboratory (SRL) located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) which can be used to measure the center of gravity and moments of inertia of an individual about any of three orthogonal axes. The accuracy of the technique has been verified with the use of two 68 kg (150 lb) test specimens, and it has been approved for human use. Results for a 62.6 kg Caucasian male subject compare well with those found in the literature for a 5th percentile Caucasian male (65.2 kg/143.7 lb) (NASA, 1978).
