Aircraft safety system

Abstract

An aircraft (10) comprising a fuselage (12) having an upper pilotable fuselage portion (10A) and a lower jettisonable fuselage portion (10B), the lower jettisonable fuselage portion (10B) being detachably engaged with the upper pilotable fuselage portion (10A) during normal flight. An upper wing structure (14A) is associated with the upper pilotable fuselage portion (10A) and a lower wing structure (14B) is associated with the lower jettisonable fuselage portion (10B). Releasable engagement means (50, 250) are provided for detachably engaging the lower jettisonable fuselage portion (10B) and the upper pilotable fuselage portion (10A). The releasable engagement means (50, 250) is actuatable in flight to enable the upper pilotable fuselage portion (10A) and the lower jettisonable fuselage portion (10B) to be disengaged from one another. The upper pilotable fuselage portion (10A) can be flown in the absence of the lower jettisonable fuselage portion (10B).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.