For those of you who think that a liferaft is expensive I would take the time out to consider what you would pay for one if you found yourself up to the neck in north sea!
A cheaper option than the stuff sold by the usual suspects might be the HELP pack sold by SES. It is basicly the single seat military liferaft that usualy lives in the seatpan of a bang seat.
With the cover up and the floor inflated it is very walm inside and at a push would take two people (but I dont recomend that!) The price is about £600, ad a new life jacket and PLB and I would guess the total price would be IRO £1100. It may seem like a lot but how much is your life worth?
Survival Equipment UK | Parachutes | Ejection Seats Servicing | Liferafts
LOCATION?
A lot of you seem have all the bits of the jigsaw when it comes to ditching but getting you location to the emergency sevices seems to be a bit vague, and an accurate fix is essential for your rescue.
Most of GA have a GPS on the aircraft and most of these units will have a "nearest" function. Part of my ditching drill is to select this function with the nearest VOR, that way you can broadcast you position as a radial & distance from a known point right up untill the point of impact.
It is SOP for all airliners to monitor 121.5 so the fact that you are making the broadcast at 20 feet above the sea wont effect the range when the reciving station is at FL350. It should get the responce you want unless the Americans are passing the baseball scores at the time.