Why does the pilot unbuckle his harness?

In Bridge of Spies a spy plane pilot is shot down over Russian airspace. At the start of that sequence the pilot decides to unbuckle his harness, even though he is being jostled around in the cockpit, and the canopy is cracking.

This decision ultimately prevents him from initiating the self destruct sequence. Earlier in the movie there was a briefing that highlighted the critical importance of destroying the aircraft if this exact scenario happened. It was also mentioned as an aside that the pilot would still be able to eject after the self destruct sequence was initiated.

So the question remains... Why would a trained elite pilot remove the safety gear that allows him to stay in the cockpit even if he is jostled around and the canopy breaks? Was it just to add some suspense?

plot-explanation bridge-of-spies

Best Answer

It is dangerous, or outright impossible to eject from a supersonic jet flying at top speed. Not only would the Applied G's knock the pilot unconscious (and possibly result in brain trauma), but he would likely collide with the airframe as part of the ejection.

The fact the plane was spinning exacerbates this threat, as the ejector mechanism would have to propel powers and his seat upwards at a speed faster than both it's Mach 1.2 propulsion and it's flat spin.

Powers did exactly the right thing (with the exception of initiating his self destruct first). He was not attempting to Eject, he was attempting to bail out; which is a different process.

IRL: The reason Powers failed to self destruct, is because as part of the bailout process you should always ensure your escape route is clear first. For powers, this meant opening the canopy and removing his Seatbelt, and because of the speed the U2 was travelling this sucked him half out of the cockpit, where he could no longer reach the controls.