Old Arakyd
Helix |
The main
thing with this ship was getting everything to fit. It is one of the rare
one is that as far as can be determined the stated size matches up perfectly
with the image. Unfortunately putting the rest of the required features
into the hull meant taking some drastic measures. The bulkheads are much
thinner than on normal couriers. Note that this is the internal bulkheads
only, the outer hull is actually stronger than most. This would tend to
mean that the walls would wobble a tad. * Incidentally this is one way in which Russian ejector
seat design far exceeds the West's best efforts; part of the ejection
process is having your body clamped into place, and your arms, legs and
head are similarly clamped into a position that will both provide the
best resistance to ejection stress and ensure that no part of the body
will hit any part of the airframe. The seat then fires a two stage rocket
which features a mechanical initiator that propels the seat first away
from the aircraft at very high speed, and then further increases altitude
on a slower burning rocket. That means it can fire quite happily at zero
altitude and zero speed. It does all this is less time than it takes for
the zero zero to fire. |
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