An aircraft crash sensor activates an aircrew safety device upon sensing an aircraft impact in any direction to minimize the aircrew flail envelope and reduce the possibility of injury caused by the crash. The crash sensor is useful in a plurality of different aircraft all having different characteristics and mounting orientations for the crash sensor. It includes accelerometers which sense accelerations along three orthogonal axes. The memory contains algorithms for each of a plurality of different aircraft. The memory also contains a program which converts the acceleration data measured along the sensor's axes to acceleration data on the aircraft's orthogonal X, Y and Z axes. These converted acceleration signals are input to a microcontroller which evaluates them, by analyzing them with an algorithm contained in non-volatile programmable memory, to determine when a crash has occurred. If a crash is determined, an output signal is provided to operate an aircrew restraint system which secures aircrewmen in their seats, or to air bags or other safety systems. Measured data is stored in memory for future retrieval.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 08/832,874, filed Apr. 4, 1997, which was a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/439,955, filed May 12, 1995, now abandoned.
