Originally Posted by
Bull at a Gate
Dave, I know that many passengers were wearing one but would anyone have died if they weren’t wearing a life vest?
Until that incident, I was sceptical as to whether a large passenger jet could make a safe ditching in water that would result in the passengers being able to evacuate, so much so that I used to inwardly say 'crashing into the sea' when the crew did the 'In the event of a landing on water' part of the safety brief.
In the Hudson incident, they were lucky that (a) the plane stayed afloat long enough and (b) the local boats etc were able to get there quickly. If either of those ahdn't been there, people would have had to take to the water.