Providing Warfighters with the Last Chance for Life

Senior Airman Zachary Davis, a 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron aircrew egress systems journeyman, uses a pre-measured bolt to check the bellows depth for the seat carrier retract thrusters during his inspection on the ejection seat of a B1-B Lancer, June 18, 2009, at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. The seat retract thruster is a system that will reposition the seat during an ejection. The ejection system is inspected to ensure the pilots can safely eject out the aircraft in an emergency where the plane is in a terminal condition. The system can launch a 300 lb. individual 200 feet in the air and deploy a parachute in 1.8 seconds. Airman Davis hails from San Andreas, Calif. and is deployed from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom and Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Andrew Satran/released)