KITT's Ejector Seats... ???

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KITT's Ejector Seats... ???

Post by Benjamin Knight » Tue Nov 04, 2003 9:48 pm

:lol: We all have seen KITT's lovely ejector seats, but HOW DO THEY WORK! :shock: :? I mean they just seem to "magicly" luanch the user up in the air, and sometimes, far away. lol There is few ways I can think this could be done! The thrust was applied though the seats and to the user quickly (with in about 1.5 seconds I would say) and with any damage to the seat or user! :roll: How was this done, air pressure, rockets etc. :o I really don't know, and now does it pass thought the seats!??!

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Post by knightimmortal » Tue Nov 04, 2003 10:26 pm

The seat generally pops up, it has hydraulics, and with that it launches them. (Of course a lot of it is stunt men or dummies being projected out.) There was one story about how they used the actual seat one time, and it overshot, so they pretty much went stunt person from there.

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Post by Michael Knight 7790 » Tue Nov 04, 2003 10:34 pm

Of course it is magicaly done because there is no way in this world that it would happen without injuring the user. It can probably be done if you are launching objects not humans.


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Post by nivek » Tue Nov 04, 2003 11:14 pm

no it is possible but there is a lot more to it then what I can explain with out sitting here all night.

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Post by ShadowConvoy » Tue Nov 04, 2003 11:55 pm

I just alway thought that those seens were shot in reverse like they used to do with the 6 million dollar man, Bionic Woman, and Wonder Woman [and among other such shows]. I just always figured that it was a stunt man actually jumping into the car and than they just run the footage back wards to give the appearance of being launched upwards.

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Post by knightimmortal » Wed Nov 05, 2003 12:28 am

Nope, that's actually harder to do, really, especially if the car is moving.

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Post by ShadowConvoy » Wed Nov 05, 2003 2:41 am

Micheal has been ejected while KITT was moving?! :shock:
Haven't seen that one but hey it's been a few years.lol

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Post by Knight2000 » Wed Nov 05, 2003 10:39 am

I odn't ever remember MK being ejected whilst the car was in motion. However, I think there have been quite a few baddies who have had this happen to them.

One was in No Big Thing [I think that's what the ep is called - it's where Devon gets sent to jail]. Anyhoo, a sheriff holds MK at gunpoint whilst they are driving. KITT speaks, which obviously surprises the sheriff guy. MK then ejects him.

A second time I *think* was in Knight In Disgrace, where that new guy temporarily replaces MK. I remember the guy ebing ejected out by KITT but can't remember whether the car was stationary or not.

A third time it happened was when, again, MK was held at gunpoint. He asks the baddie if it's okay to play a little music, and he presses the ejct button.

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Post by Michael Pajaro » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:15 am

KITT ejected Michael (with very little warning) in Knight of the Drones, right before he got hit with the missile. They were moving at the time.
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Post by Michael Pajaro » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:15 am

KITT ejected Michael (with very little warning) in Knight of the Drones, right before he got hit with the missile. They were moving at the time.

In Knight in Disgrace, KITT is stopped when he lets "Chuck" find out for himself what the eject button does.
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Post by Benjamin Knight » Wed Nov 05, 2003 4:53 pm

Knight2000 wrote:I odn't ever remember MK being ejected whilst the car was in motion. However, I think there have been quite a few baddies who have had this happen to them.

One was in No Big Thing [I think that's what the ep is called - it's where Devon gets sent to jail]. Anyhoo, a sheriff holds MK at gunpoint whilst they are driving. KITT speaks, which obviously surprises the sheriff guy. MK then ejects him.

A second time I *think* was in Knight In Disgrace, where that new guy temporarily replaces MK. I remember the guy ebing ejected out by KITT but can't remember whether the car was stationary or not.

A third time it happened was when, again, MK was held at gunpoint. He asks the baddie if it's okay to play a little music, and he presses the ejct button.
Just for the record books :) MK is holding the "baddy" at guy point (or rather the Knight Girl was, thats what I call KR's many chicks, :roll: like Bond Girls, lol) And they eject him to make room for Devon. lol He lands in a pond. KITT was moving at (somewhat) high speeds and he was okay. lol He got all wet. But he had a clean chance at getting away. :o

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Post by Knicks4973 » Wed Nov 05, 2003 9:08 pm

Since we're on the subject, what about KITT's roof panels?

It's very funny to see that sometimes it lifts up, sometimes you see shots where it isn't even there after it popped up, and sometimes it'll slide back.

I do have a question about it though. What season did the roof top start to slide back instead of lifting up to open?

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Post by Benjamin Knight » Wed Nov 05, 2003 10:48 pm

Yes I have noticed that too, rather silly. lol I think it was third season...

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Post by Skav » Thu Nov 06, 2003 12:09 am

yes, third season, right after kitt got refurbished after his accident with the Drones in KOTD.

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Post by sofchance » Thu Nov 06, 2003 12:54 am

From what I remember, in the first two seasons, KITT's roof would usually rise up, and in the last two seasons the roof would slide over (to where? the other side?).

And about the ejecting seats - I always thought that in real life, you would want to crouch and lower your center of gravity before getting launched. Also, it would have to be a pretty fast and powerful jolt to shoot a (roughly) 150-pound man 50 feet onto a rooftop. Even if KITT has the power, from my way of thinking he would have to shoot the entire seat at least a few feet up by itself, rather than the few inches we saw.

Think about a trampoline (like ejecting in reverse?). If you want to leap a little bit off the ground, you take a small hop and a dent a few inches big appears in the trampoline netting to push you up. If you want to leap high, you take a big jump and now that dent is a huge crater, which bounds back and pushes you up higher.

So from my way of thinking, even if ejection is possible, Michael would have to be wearing knee braces and be kneeling before being ejected.

meh...It doesn't really matter, it just looks cool!

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Post by Michael Pajaro » Fri Nov 07, 2003 4:31 pm

It's all about acceleration. It doesn't really matter how far the seat moves up, whether it's 10 inches or 10 feet. All that matters is how fast the seat is moving when it hits the highest point. That determines Michael's initial velocity. The faster he's going, the higher he'll fly.

The trampoline analogy isn't quite the same. A 4 foot crater using loose fabric will give less force than a 2 foot crater with tight fabric. Similarly, KITT's chair moving 4 feet up under low pressure would have less force than an extreme force moving it 2 feet.
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Post by Michael Pajaro » Fri Nov 07, 2003 5:15 pm

***** WARNING - MAJOR GEEK ZONE *****

DO NOT READ IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE TV TECH!!!


Just how impossible are KITT's ejector seats?

Assume Michael needs to be thrown 25' straight up. We need to know how fast he needs to be going when he leaves the seat. That would be the same speed as if he jumped down from a 25' height. It takes about 1.25 seconds to fall 25 feet, with a final velocity of 40 ft/second. So Michael needs to be launched from the seat at 40 ft/second upward.

If the seat moves up only one foot, that would mean Michael was pulling 25g's. His brain would be mush.

If the seat moves up 2 ft, he'd pull 12g's. Would give a really bad headache, probably cause him to black out.

If the seat were to move up 8 ft (like twice the height of the car), Michael would do about 3g's, which is what the Space Shuttle typically does. Very easy.


The ejector seats might be possible, but you wouldn't be happy using them.


People with too much time on their hands can check my math, but I think it's all pretty close. Basically just using d=.5att, v=at
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Post by ColeGrad01 » Sat Nov 08, 2003 2:31 pm

KITT first used the ejector seats when carjackers Jackson (African-American) and Brown (Hispanic) ripped him off cause Michael had to be a stupid idiot that left the door open and the keys in the ignition. They land right on top of police cars right by a police station. When I saw that this week, (second time) I just burst out laughing my head off. I wonder if I did it so loudly that the people in the rooms next door could hear me. When the ejector seats were actually used for what they meant to be, it was when Michael asked to be boosted up to the roof of Comtron so he could sneak in without being seen by the guards at the door. I think ejector seats could be a good idea for when real life car thieves rip off someone's expensive and almost impossible to replace fancy vehicle. There would be no need for them with the regular driver. Ordinary people are not crime-fighting agents needing to sneak into hideouts without getting noticed.
Last edited by ColeGrad01 on Thu Nov 13, 2003 1:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Knicks4973 » Sun Nov 09, 2003 7:04 pm

Hey Mike, great explanation.

In the world on KR, how many feet did KITT's seat rise when ejecting someone? I know in AGKW, the seat rose a few feet to meet Michael when he jumped from the building.

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Post by Benjamin Knight » Sun Nov 09, 2003 7:43 pm

I always wonder how "plesent" (or lack of!) it would be to get lauched by those things! The forces are quiet extreme!

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