Ditching in the Drink

[strafer]

Should the unthinkable happen and you need to get wet on your day trip to Le Touquet, what is the safest way to land on water?

I remember my instructor saying that a slightly nosedown attitude was best, as a normal flare would cause the main wheels to 'catch' and slam you in nose first. Also, would full flap act as waterbrakes or cause more problems?

(I'm specifically thinking of a Warrior here).

[Circuit Basher]

A variety of information in this ditching thread (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59008). Do a search on 'diching' in Private Flying if you need more.

By coincidence, I shall be trying to keep my feet dry over water tomorrow, flying to Benbecula! It will be my first time over any significant stretch of water, so the old plum will be twitching a bit to start with!

[stiknruda]

Prior to my epic first trip to Le2K last week in my Pitts, I was advised by a gent "with sufficient experience to make listening worthwhile", to do the following should the donk no longer want to play:

full nose down trim

roll inverted

slide canopy back

disconnect helmet and undo straps

fall out head first

pull the D handle

all of the above preferably in sight of some of the smaller vessels that trundle up down and across le manche

the inflating of lifejacket and parachute discard were very much - see what works!

Stik

[FlyingForFun]

On a related note:

I saw an advert in one of the big GA magazines recently for some kind of super-duper deluxe life-jacket. The advert claimed that the normal life-jackets we wear every time we cross the Channel are not suitable. They're fine, the ad says, for stowing under the seat of an airliner. But as soon as you start wearing it (as we do every time we fly across the water), the outer skin begins to wear, and eventually becomes porous - leading to the life-jacket having little or no bouyancy should it need to be used.

I find this rather difficult to believe - someone would have sued the manufacturers of the normal life-jackets by now if they weren't suitable. But does anyone know of a case where they've had to use a life-jacket, especially a well-worn (but never actually "used") one? Did it function sufficiently well?

FFF
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[flyingfemme]

Never actually used one in anger but have popped some that were mildly out of date - the failure rate is not encouraging. I generally carry a couple of spares!

[chris@wda]

FFF

Can and does happen - I have a friend who works for a lj manufacturer, who confirms that they have had some "airline" type jackets back from customers for servicing (annual, bi-annual, something like), and on pressure testing, have found some have patches where the air leaks out (albeit very slowly).... they talked to the customers involved, and deduced that they were worn constantly in the air. The porous patches of the jackets lined up nicely with the line of the seatbelts, which over time have quite an abrasive effect.

This is probably very dependent on the aircraft type and jacket type used, but the problem should be alleviated by using more heavy duty jackets. Incidentally, the heavy duty jackets are rumoured to often better at getting your head up out of the water more quickly, and keeping it there in choppy seas.

[Fuji Abound]

I read somewhere that 80% of pilots ditch and evacuate the aircraft without serious injury and 75% of those perish from exposure. Not usre if the numbers are correct but they arent far adrift. If you are serious about reducing the risk it may be worth thinking about a liferaft.

I would be interested to know if you land in the Channel, the aircraft sinks (more than very likely) and you are adrift with only a lifejacket how long it will take the rescues services to find and recover you (assuming of course you havent landed alongside a passsing ship). Where is the nearest rescue helicopter these days?