About 1978 we agitated for immersion suits in the Brent Field, with singularly little support from (BEAS/Bristow) management. We were mostly ex RN, and had absorbed a small amount of training about surviving the Northern NS in winter; after a while we were issued Mustang jackets. Great protection in the winter, but FA use in a ditching helicopter as the positive buoyancy would have trapped the wearer, negating any survival assets the jacket might otherwise have provided
BAH (or was it Bristow) then had an S61 ditch whilst returning with a medevac patient, and the crew and patient nearly died from exposure before rescue. The P1 was revived after winching, IIRC, having 'died' from hypothermia: all on board were in shirt sleeves, as per normal, with the heater turned up.
Within a week we were required to provide size requirements for goon suits, which arrived within a few more weeks. Maybe this lesson hasn't filtered across the Atlantic
