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During the hoth asteroid chase, they are pursued by four TIEs which get successively wiped out. However when the first one gets hit, there's what looks like a somewhat human-shaped object flys off to the bottom left of the screen.

Jean Paul wrote:During the hoth asteroid chase, they are pursued by four TIEs which get successively wiped out. However when the first one gets hit, there's what looks like a somewhat human-shaped object flys off to the bottom left of the screen.

That would presumably be the dead pilot on fire. Or a piece of debris.

IIRC on the Behind the Magic CD it does say he's ejecting. Much good ejecting into vacuum in an asteroid field will do you.

2000AD wrote:IIRC on the Behind the Magic CD it does say he's ejecting. Much good ejecting into vacuum in an asteroid field will do you.

Since all TIE pilots wear space suits, the vacuum is not the problem.

So much for the EU saying tie fighters have no ejector seats.

Tribun wrote:

2000AD wrote:IIRC on the Behind the Magic CD it does say he's ejecting. Much good ejecting into vacuum in an asteroid field will do you.

Since all TIE pilots wear space suits, the vacuum is not the problem.

Yeah, but how long will his air supply last, assuming he isn't swatted by a big rock.

2000AD wrote:

Tribun wrote:

2000AD wrote:IIRC on the Behind the Magic CD it does say he's ejecting. Much good ejecting into vacuum in an asteroid field will do you.

Since all TIE pilots wear space suits, the vacuum is not the problem.

Yeah, but how long will his air supply last, assuming he isn't swatted by a big rock.

Never says in the movies, but one would presume that the TIE pilots normally operate off the shipboard air canisters. IIRC from the movies they don't have very large backpacks or anything like that at all; just the two hoses leading down to their chest pack. So I'd presume that, rather in line with the Imperial policy of disposable pilots, they don't have more than a few minutes-- half-hour at best-- of air stored in their suit and the chest pack. Of course, they might have some uber-compressed air or whatever... but iirc, there are practical limits to how far you can compress o2?

Elheru Aran wrote:
Never says in the movies, but one would presume that the TIE pilots normally operate off the shipboard air canisters. IIRC from the movies they don't have very large backpacks or anything like that at all; just the two hoses leading down to their chest pack. So I'd presume that, rather in line with the Imperial policy of disposable pilots, they don't have more than a few minutes-- half-hour at best-- of air stored in their suit and the chest pack. Of course, they might have some uber-compressed air or whatever... but iirc, there are practical limits to how far you can compress o2?

Well, the packs are often referred to as scrubbers. And today's cave-diving equipment allow mucho mucho efficient means of conserving oxygen. So maybe the SW galaxy has some uber form of that?

From the SWCCG: "Congratulations on purchasing the TIE/ln starfighter by Sienar. Equipped with a jettison device and distress beacon, it should provide you with years of worry-free subjugation."

And from the Databank: "Although literature attests that TIEs lack such pilot-friendly features as ejection seats, LucasArts' popular TIE fighter simulator game of 1995 showed that at least some Imperial units retrofitted the life saving devices into the craft."

What about Rebel Fighters. The pilots of those can eject as well. Butisn't that matter moot, since they don't wear full space suits? They don't even wear full helmets! How could they possibly survive ejecting into a vacuum as they do so often in EU?

The Original Nex wrote:What about Rebel Fighters. The pilots of those can eject as well. Butisn't that matter moot, since they don't wear full space suits? They don't even wear full helmets! How could they possibly survive ejecting into a vacuum as they do so often in EU?

Apparently their ejector seats have meanturized force fields to help keep in heat and air, IIRC the EU correctly.

As opposed to the guy in the TIE who just had his suit and not a chair as well.

Still, a Rebel Pilot wouldn't last very long, either. Half an hour tops?

Grand Admiral Mango wrote:Still, a Rebel Pilot wouldn't last very long, either. Half an hour tops?

Which is why they have shuttles dedicated to picking up stranded pilots, and beacons on their seats.

What about rebreathers, is there a limit to how much you can recycle air?

While games are a bit low on the canon scale in Rebel Assault II Rookie One ejects from a B-Wing by having the entire front of the cockpit blast away from the B-Wing.

If the rest of the Rebel fighters have a similar system I can't say.

For what it's worth, in the Darklighter stories in the Empire comic (collected in Empire vol.2) Biggs and the embryonic Rogue Group eject into space from their captured TIEs, wearing the flight suits from their days with the Empire. The plan is to let their ships continue on driod control, drawing all the Imperial TIEs off so Biggs and co. - who wait in orbit - can proceed back to the planet and capture (da da DAAAA) some freshly made X-Wings. Needless to say the plan works flawlessly, the Imperials are completely fooled and there are X-Wings for all.

Oh yeah during the ejection Hobbie 'Two fighters against a Star Destroyer?' Klivian gets his lower leg sliced off. Apparently the suit has a self sealer and the wound freezes fast enough...No hint as to how long the air lasts but some idea as to the capabilities of SW flight suits.

I remember I heard or read somewhere that the pilot was thrown out (ie not by ejector seat) from the TIE, I can't remember the source though. The Databank over at the OS states the following:

OS Databank wrote:Although literature attests that TIEs lack such pilot-friendly features as ejection seats, LucasArts' popular TIE fighter simulator game of 1995 showed that at least some Imperial units retrofitted the life saving devices into the craft. After all, it wouldn't do to have players die after every botched mission.

Meest wrote:What about rebreathers, is there a limit to how much you can recycle air?

If you have a supply of fresh oxygen to enrich the air and chemical scrubber to remove excess Co2 you could keep reusing the same small amount of air for quite a long period. Modern submarines can do it for longer then six months in some cases. Though they of course have far greater resources and the ability to pull the fresh oxygen out of sea water. However with a relatively small apparatus strapped to your body you could go for a couple hours easily. And since most TIE fighters don't have FTL drives and thus will never be far from a base or ship, if rescue can't arrive in that time chances are it never will.

IIRC there have been mentions of "consumables for 2 weeks" aboard TIE fighters, so assuming that they run off the closed system as mentioned before, they shouldn't have too many problems surviving in space.

Starwars.com says that the body is a corpse, not an ejection.

Sonnenburg wrote:From the SWCCG: "Congratulations on purchasing the TIE/ln starfighter by Sienar. Equipped with a jettison device and distress beacon, it should provide you with years of worry-free subjugation."

Might I ask what card that was on?

I can't remember for the life of me.

Vympel wrote:Starwars.com says that the body is a corpse, not an ejection.

A corpse is a corpse, of course of course.

Gandalf wrote:Might I ask what card that was on?

Lost in Space from Dagobah.