Originally Posted by
Bob Viking
I would bet with near certainty they would not have been wearing immersion suits. I did 3.5 years at Cold Lake and was never even issued one. I did make use of cold weather gear though!
I have been to Kamloops in May and I have a picture of me in shorts and t-shirt at a restaurant and clearly remember it being in the mid to high 20’s (Celsius). The Kamloops area has a much warmer climate than many parts of Canada. Indeed, Kelowna just down the road is a wine growing region. The river might be pretty chilly (unlikely to have fresh glacial melt water) but certainly no worse than the temperature of the UK seas that we regularly fly over without immersion suits.
Far from avoiding the river, in the event of an engine failure I would have been aiming for it as my intended ejection site and would have briefed accordingly. Unless I had sufficient speed for a reciprocal EFATO pattern.
Remember, as I keep saying, all of this chat presupposes there was an engine failure in the first place. I have yet to see any evidence that this was the case.
BV
You don't need an immersion suit in the Thompson now. I agree that straight ahead after entering a glide at the top is the second best alternative, if a total engine failure. A normal glide down to 200 feet at 130 would have made it close to McArthur Island. An eject there would likely see the jet go into the river and reduce public risk. The best option if eject was certain was to turn right, point it toward all that empty land, and eject higher. You make a good point about the presumption of total engine failure immediately. With a partial failure, the optimum result is return to field, save the aircraft, and not put both occupants to the risk of an ejection. The left turn may have been made with an assessment that there was sufficient power to either make a circuit, or get back on the reverse of the takeoff runway.
Someone mentioned that they were up to 200 knots in the low level pass by the camera. You can see takeoff flap is still down as they pass. Can you have flap out at 200 knots?