ejector seat

Device for propelling an aircraft pilot out of the plane to parachute to safety in an emergency, invented by the British engineer James Martin (1893–1981). The first seats of 1945 were powered by a compressed spring; later seats used an explosive charge. The British company Martin-Baker, a pioneer of ejector seats, claim that by the end of 2003 their seats had saved 7028 lives.

Seats that can be ejected on takeoff and landing or at low altitude were a major breakthrough of the 1980s. They are as effective as those originally designed for parachuting from high altitudes.