SEP over water - do you? And if so how far will you go?
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Funnily enough it was always my dream to take a month off rent an aircraft and fly the Caribbean islands.
I go every year to Florida to renew my recurrent on the C500 series jets.
My other passion away from flying is scuba diving and photography.
One year I jumped a scheduled and flew to the Bahamas for a few days before getting BA direct from there to the UK
I did a crazy dive called a Shark feed where they placed a large box 25 meters down on the sea bed and 2 divers dressed in chain mail suits pulled dead fish out of the box.
The idea was that we all formed a ring around the box maybe 7 meters away and unprotected kneeled on the sea bed and watched the Sharks zoom in focusing on the fish being pulled from the box.
It was manic seeing these creatures come in from every angle whipped up into a frenzy and some pretty nasty types of Shark.
At one point maybe 50. They were bumping into the back of your head, shoulders and I broke my watch strap pushing one off that got to friendly
I wouldn't do it again for two reasons. One these were wild creatures whipped to a frenzy and you were totally reliant on them fixating on the box food source and two while I have dived with sharks in the open many times where I never felt threatened this was an artificial situation and the Sharks were in a feeding frenzy so you really did not know what they would do.
That and cost put me off single engine over those waters and my plans to fly the Caribbean islands in a SEP
We were thoroughly briefed and one part was if we couldn't take it not to swim to the surface but to back off on the bottom out of the area and then swim up to 10 meters from the surface and back to the boat ladder.But Never Never on the surface
Many in the USA do fly SEP to the Bahamas and other islands but I reckon you would be Shark meat if you spent any time in the water.
You cannot win, North Atlantic you freeze to death warm seas you have other threats
Many think the Great White Shark is the biggest Killer but its not the Oceanic white tips are mainly because in the wars they killed more people off blown up sinking ships than any other variety of Shark
Has anyone flown from Florida SEP and what precautions did you take ?
Myself it would have to be a twin ))
Pace
I go every year to Florida to renew my recurrent on the C500 series jets.
My other passion away from flying is scuba diving and photography.
One year I jumped a scheduled and flew to the Bahamas for a few days before getting BA direct from there to the UK
I did a crazy dive called a Shark feed where they placed a large box 25 meters down on the sea bed and 2 divers dressed in chain mail suits pulled dead fish out of the box.
The idea was that we all formed a ring around the box maybe 7 meters away and unprotected kneeled on the sea bed and watched the Sharks zoom in focusing on the fish being pulled from the box.
It was manic seeing these creatures come in from every angle whipped up into a frenzy and some pretty nasty types of Shark.
At one point maybe 50. They were bumping into the back of your head, shoulders and I broke my watch strap pushing one off that got to friendly
I wouldn't do it again for two reasons. One these were wild creatures whipped to a frenzy and you were totally reliant on them fixating on the box food source and two while I have dived with sharks in the open many times where I never felt threatened this was an artificial situation and the Sharks were in a feeding frenzy so you really did not know what they would do.
That and cost put me off single engine over those waters and my plans to fly the Caribbean islands in a SEP
We were thoroughly briefed and one part was if we couldn't take it not to swim to the surface but to back off on the bottom out of the area and then swim up to 10 meters from the surface and back to the boat ladder.But Never Never on the surface
Many in the USA do fly SEP to the Bahamas and other islands but I reckon you would be Shark meat if you spent any time in the water.
You cannot win, North Atlantic you freeze to death warm seas you have other threats
Many think the Great White Shark is the biggest Killer but its not the Oceanic white tips are mainly because in the wars they killed more people off blown up sinking ships than any other variety of Shark
Has anyone flown from Florida SEP and what precautions did you take ?
Myself it would have to be a twin ))
Pace
In a word stupid.Life is not worth the risk.
That "enough" is a personal choice and seems often to increase with age
There seem to be many stories of people surviving for long periods in a dingy with sharks swimming about them. Just make sure you have a dingy.
Last edited by Romeo Tango; 9th Apr 2016 at 08:46. Reason: Shark/dingy ambiguity
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How does having a shark improve your chances of survival ?
A bit like being hit by a car doing 30mph rather than teeth
Pace
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IMHO one's life IS worth the risk if the reward/risk is high enough.
That "enough" is a personal choice and seems often to increase with age
That "enough" is a personal choice and seems often to increase with age
one is more likely to do stupid and inadvisably risky things when one is young and 'immortal' than when one gets older and, hopefully, a bit wiser.
IMHO a lot less would get done if the young didn't go out on the edge from time to time.
Last edited by Romeo Tango; 10th Apr 2016 at 10:28.
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Yes though one also seems to get a bit more careful in general with age. The idea of struggling into a dingy in a cold sea is a bit more daunting if one is older/stiffer/heavier
I am no expert on ditching and have never done it but as a scuba diver enthusiast am aware of the energy and power of the " cruel" sea at close quarters as well as how cold the water can be on instant unexpected immersion. I do think some pilots are not aware and see the whitecaps as a pretty texture to a sea 3000 feet below
RT you bring up a very good point. A dingy is very hard to get into once in the water and especially for overweight or unfit pilots or passengers.
Take the immersion shock factor and exertion which could bring on a heart attack in some and that itself becomes a serious problem.
One saving grace is that on a reasonably flat sea an aircraft will not usually sink straight off.
Some especially composites with sealed inner pockets of air in the wings may stay afloat for some time.
It is important to use that time to inflate the dinghy and enter passengers and yourself from wing level rather than all diving into the sea disorganised, panicking and with a good chance of separating from the others
As the Captain your duty does not finish on landing in the sea hopefully intact and it is up to you to organise the passengers to enter the dingy from the wing before entering yourself! Just my take
If anyone more knowledgeable disagrees feel free to correct me
Pace
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SSD
But the life raft only hold 2 and there are three POB what happens then?
If The third POB is an attractive leggy blonde your swimming
As I reassume Captaincy to take care of the passenger and make sure she is relaxed with the up and down movements in the Ocean
Now might be the time to discuss dingy survival and body heat sharing ?
But if the passenger is a hairy guy who winks at you and me I'm swimming
Pace
But the life raft only hold 2 and there are three POB what happens then?
If The third POB is an attractive leggy blonde your swimming
As I reassume Captaincy to take care of the passenger and make sure she is relaxed with the up and down movements in the Ocean Now might be the time to discuss dingy survival and body heat sharing ?
But if the passenger is a hairy guy who winks at you and me I'm swimming
Pace
Last edited by Pace; 10th Apr 2016 at 16:55.
RT you bring up a very good point. A dingy is very hard to get into once in the water and especially for overweight or unfit pilots or passengers.
The fittest/strongest person should get in dinghy first so he/she can then assist others to board.
One bit of advice is to swim and "dive" onto/into the dingy which requires less effort than trying to haul oneself in.
Personally I do not expect to be marshaling my passengers along the wing into the dingy without getting their feet wet. My experience of the sea is that it is rarely smooth on the scale of a light aircraft once you away from the coast. I expect a ditching to be violent and wet.
Though I do expect to survive, see:
EQUIPPED TO SURVIVE (tm) - Ditching Myths Torpedoed!
Though I do expect to survive, see:
EQUIPPED TO SURVIVE (tm) - Ditching Myths Torpedoed!
