Sheesh....some of the comments here!!!
Life jackets are of course a very neccesarry part of our equipment. A ditching may not be as black and white as some of you portray (ahem skipness one echo ahem ahem). What about the China Airlines 747 that went off the end of the runway at Kai Tak? It was one of the few evacuations that actually successfully got passengers into rafts!
Two years ago I was in a situation where we had a very real chance of going off the end of the runway into water in the Carib. I was also stationed at doors one so myself and my SCCM were both aware that chances our part of the aircraft would be submerged. Life jackets were out, passengers were shown how to wear them EXACTLY as per your mans article AND STILL THE GOT IT WRONG!!!!
Also, the Ethiopian incident actually had survivors. Many of those who did not survive were those who inflated their life jackets before the impact. It is believed many more may have survived had they listened to the demo more carefully.
Now I could go into his jargon about the 02 masks but to be honest Id rather not, because I would not mind if he ashpyxiated himself next time he is in a depressurisation over high terrain!
Apols for the spelling mistakes, cant get my spell check to work!