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With their steely nerves and cool demeanor, fighter pilots seem born
to fly. Yet even the toughest human beings are unequipped to
survive, much less thrive, in combat airplanes. Soaring at up to
60,000 feet and more than 1,875 miles per hour—the altitude
ceiling and top speed of an F-15—a pilot would quickly black
out without his flight gear, a 40-pound collection of vital clothing
and equipment designed to counteract the effects of altitude and
high speed.
In this interactive, find out what an F-15 fighter pilot wears in
the air and what he carries in case he must eject. Like the test
pilots who flew the prototype Boeing and Lockheed Martin X-Planes
(see Meet a Test Pilot),
the military pilots who fly the next-generation fighters will wear
flight suits similar to the one seen in this feature.
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