Yes - how deep? topend is right, not nice to surface into moving blades - and don't for one minute tell me that your pax are going to wait 'til the blades stop before scrambling out. I did a Huet course and believe me the first reaction on hitting the water is to get the hell out as quickly as possible - even if you have been trained to wait! But topend assumes the machine comes to rest upright. And it might ---in very shallow and reasonably still water; but it may not. So with that in mind can anybody out there tell me what way does a R44 sink??? The conventional thinking is(and HUET Training tells us )that helicopters invert when sinking- due to the high position of the engine and gearbox etc. But I can see a R44 (with a heavy engine located relatively low) sinking tail first.
I have flown across the Irish sea a number of times (not the warmest or calmest stretch of water in the world) and I have often wondered has anybody ditched a 44?? And what way to they sink - 'cause they certainly don't float