Cccccccold night on ice

[racedo]

BBC NEWS | Americas | Pilots survive night on ice floe (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7773046.stm)

2 Pilots survived a night on iceflows when their Cessna Skymaster had engine failure.

[RatherBeFlying]

Lost 1st. engine 3:50 into planned 4:30 flight

radioed Mayday -- KLM relayed

unspecified time later second engine lost.

Dark -- at 3000' began looking for place to land -- wanted to land on ice close to water -- don't remember why the close to water -- depth perception difficult

Hard impact -- sudden stop -- windows smashed in by water and ice -- cabin filled to roof instantly

Getting out is what it's all about

Both left via broken windows

Pulled life jacket toggles and popped to surface [most fortunately not to bottom of ice:ok:]

helicopters quickly on scene but had no means to signal as flare gun left inside -- no flash light -- lights on life jackets failed to activate

1 helo as close as 100-200m

[good reasons to carry PLB and light in survival suit pockets]

seriously uncomfortable night spent in survival suits -- lots of rubbing and jumping around to keep warm, but still recovering from frostbite on feet and hands.

At daybreak morale up and first spotted ship as a light on horizon while walking to shore as definitely not up to another night on ice -- once ship apparent started waving lifejackets -- that and the orange survival suits got the ship's attention and they came and got them:ok:

very weak when ship picked them up -- aerial search had been called off:confused:

phoned wife from ship to find police telling her that search had been called off and he was presumed lost.

Excellent care for hypothermia and frost bite received from ship's crew.

Buy Canadian shrimp:ok:

[RatherBeFlying]

I answered the Mayday,Mayday,Mayday call from the Cessna Skymaster along with KLM flight 11. He said the front engine had failed and the rear engine was reading low oil pressure. Position was about 130 south of CYFB. He said aircraft descending unable maintain altitude. A very short time later he said rear engine had failed requested search and rescue. Our aircraft lost radio contact because of range but a BA aircraft was able to receive a position report. All information was passed on to Nav Canada ATC. I am very happy to read they are safe and sound. Keep one radio on 121.5. One never knows who will need help.

That reported loss of oil pressure on at least one engine raises suspicion about the crankcase breather tube becoming iced up and forcing oil out of the engine.

[BackPacker]

sharmatanoo, you are not going to get advice by posting in a random thread. Search the archives first, learn what the forums are about, which one is most appropriate for your question and try again.

[good reasons to carry PLB and light in survival suit pockets]

In this particular case it would have been handy to carry a large knife, pick or something like that in your pockets too. It's extremely hard to hoist yourself onto an ice slab, particularly in bulky gear, since you have nowhere to grab it. If you have something pointy that you can smash into the ice, it gives you something to hold.

Nevertheless, well done to the both of them. It proves once again that ditchings are survivable, that two engines can fail on a flight and that arctic situations are survivable with the right gear. Also that the only thing that is sure to make it out of the aircraft with you is the stuff you carry on your person. Plus the importance of mayday calls, including mayday relays by somebody listening on 121.5.

That reported loss of oil pressure on at least one engine raises suspicion about the crankcase breather tube becoming iced up and forcing oil out of the engine.

I have never heard of that scenario. Is this something particular on the skymixer or is it something that can affect all piston aircraft? What can you do about it?

[kalleh]

During a "live chat" on swedish newspaper website he mentioned they lost oil pressure on BOTH engines (one shortly after the other). Any clues why this could happen?

[RatherBeFlying]

In this particular case it would have been handy to carry a large knife, pick or something like that in your pockets too. It's extremely hard to hoist yourself onto an ice slab, particularly in bulky gear, since you have nowhere to grab it. If you have something pointy that you can smash into the ice, it gives you something to hold.I carry one of these. It comes with a window punch and seatbelt cutter, and the blade makes quite a good pry bar. The blade tip is blunt in favor of the screwdriver / pry bar role. The only thing the serrated edge did not cut so far has been stainless a/c control cable. I wouldn't want to be in any aircraft or vehicle without one in my pocket as I consider it a vital escape tool

Gerber Hinderer Rescue Knife 22-01534 (http://www.gerber-tools.com/Gerber-Hinderer-Rescue-22-01534.htm)

[Maoraigh1]

Frozen with fear: how Aussie survived Arctic crash - World - smh.com.au (http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/frozen-with-fear-how-aussie-survived-arctic-crash/2008/12/09/1228584809193.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap3)

It's surprising that NO official search was done after daylight.
The shrimp trawler skipper used a lot of fuel, and fishing time, and seems to have done the rescue on his own initiative, with his company's support.
I hope thy get recompensed in some form.

[Flying Microphone]

Quote:
In this particular case it would have been handy to carry a large knife, pick or something like that in your pockets too. It's extremely hard to hoist yourself onto an ice slab, particularly in bulky gear, since you have nowhere to grab it. If you have something pointy that you can smash into the ice, it gives you something to hold.
I carry one of these. It comes with a window punch and seatbelt cutter, and the blade makes quite a good pry bar. The blade tip is blunt in favor of the screwdriver / pry bar role. The only thing the serrated edge did not cut so far has been stainless a/c control cable. I wouldn't want to be in any aircraft or vehicle without one in my pocket as I consider it a vital escape tool

Gerber Hinderer Rescue Knife 22-01534

Great idea, but how do you get it through security at bigger airports? I spent the last three years flying out of Belfast International and there's no way they'd have let me take a knife through the scanner at the GA terminal.

I'm now flying from Cyprus and often visit nearby countries like Rhodes and Egypt. Again, there's no way that's gonna happen with a big knife in your flight bag, walking around airside.

Any suggestions?

[BackPacker]

Just as with a lot of other survival equipment... You leave it in the aircraft.

If that's impossible, what you need to realize is that security is not so much there to prevent you from taking stuff in your own aircraft, but from you handing stuff to somebody else in the terminal, and that person then embarking as passenger on a commercial flight.

So airports should have procedures in place to either escort you, with your dangerous goods, to your own aircraft, or for temporarily confiscating the stuff and then deliver it to you when you're on board. But to be honest, I can imagine that security departments would like to keep these exceptions a secret, since they're very resource-intensive.

Talking about this... How does security prevent you from bringing dangerous goods into the terminal, from airside, assuming you just flew in from a grass strip into an international airport? If they did this properly, they would check you before entering the terminal from airside and thus again you'd not be able to take the knife with you landside. So you would have no choice but to leave it in the aircraft.

In any case, the flight we're discussing here was in Canada somewhere in arctic conditions. I don't know the exact rules, but I believe for those sorts of flights Canada *requires* you to carry a rifle, so you can keep the bears away in case of an emergency landing. I don't think security there would be having a problem with a rescue knife.

[flyingfemme]

During a "live chat" on swedish newspaper website he mentioned they lost oil pressure on BOTH engines (one shortly after the other). Any clues why this could happen?

Sounds like ice and bad preparation.

When an aircraft, that is not designed to live in icy flight conditions, encounters ice the engine breather exit can ice up. Plugging this hole first causes the oil pressure to climb.......until the excess pressure makes itself another exit - blows a seal or even a filler cap. Oil leaves the engine in a hurry. This lack of oil then shows as reduced oil pressure.........if not stopped quickly the engine can then seize/fail.

Pilots who need to fly low performance aircraft in arctic conditions generally make a small modification to the system - lag the breather pipe and cut a slot in it within the confines of a nice, warm cowling. This gives the engine somewhere reliable to breathe and helps keep the oil where it works best.

One can only assume that these were not experienced ferry pilots. They are a lot more experiemced now!