And one also had paraplegia, which can't have helped him escape.
I think you are mistaken, the paraplegic pilot made it safely to Sydney in a flexwing microlight. The pilot who died in the Channel on his way to Sydney was able-bodied.
There seems to be two different views on here: those who insist on the necessity of a carrying a raft and those who prefer to minimize the need to carry a raft.