I recently saw a PBS program on the development of ejection seats for todays high speed aircraft. It is my understanding that modern ejection seats last procedural act is to reach up and pull down a mylar screen over your face while keeping your elbows tucked in close to your body, at which point the ejection mechanism fires.

Years ago when I still considered Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumers Reports to be a legitimate organization, (Somehow they seem to have been taken over as some sort of tax haven with limited testing, and more investment advise than previously existed.) they did some testing on life vests, and I seem to recall that some of the vests had a built-in feature that reduced the tendency of water to be washed into your mouth. Does something like a diverter or shield exist on better quality life vests to reduce the potential for swallowing water?

Bountyhunter

As far as I'm aware, modern ejection seats all use a handle either between the legs (or at the side of the leg). The older seats had a face shield but the act of reaching up for the handle could be impossible under very high G loads and the act of pulling down the handle tended to curve the back greatly increasing the risk of spinal injury. Pulling a handle between the legs tends to straighten and force the back against the seat which combined with a Conscious effort to push the head and shoulders back against the seat helps minimise the risks.

Many sources recommend a 'splash guard' for life jackets. In the water the effect of wind above water and the majority of the body below water is for a survivor to 'weather cock' to face into wind because the body/legs act as an anchor. A Conscious survivor can turn themselves around but once useful Consciousness is lost the survivor will be left facing into wind, any spray above the surface is then blown into their face and the chamber design and wave size can mean that waves/splashes are directed to, or well-up, at the face. Very little water inhalation is required to cause death. All Royal Navy (and German Navy) life jackets have spashguards fitted as do a number of the better commercial jackets in Europe. Some manufacturers sell splash guards seperately.

'Essentials of Sea Survival' by Golden and Tipton gives a great deal of information on the subject and is very, very good.

I remember watching a similar program. After a long and interesting history of the Ejection seats, it then went into detail about the problems of a supersonic ejection.
The conclusion was that an attempted ejection at 800mph using a traditional ejection seat would be suicide - the pressures involved would kill you. I remember seeing a picture of a test pilot who "bailed out" at I think supersonic (or just below) - his face was unrecognisable - black and blue with completly bloodshot eyeballs that were twice there normal size. He was lucky to survive.
The solution was to seperate the whole cockpit, not just the seat, from the rest of the plane in one sealed unit. This meant the pilot was not exposed to the force of the external air pressure.
In real life however even with that system, the chances of survival are slim.

hey bountyhunter : as far as i know there was only two u.s.airforce aircraft that had a detachable cockpit or pod...they are the B-58 hustler of the 50's and 60's that had escape pods for each crewman , on command the pod would eject and a parachute would carry the pod to the ground or water.... the other aircraft was the F-111 ardvark of the 70's.... the cockpit had two side by side seats and this would also eject as a complete enclosed pod and parachute to the ground or water etc... both of these aircraft are no longer in the u.s. airforce inventory.....vince g.11b inf..