SAS, I think the criteria will be the ablity to inflate at high speed without damaging the aircraft's ability to continue flight, rather than necessarily no damage to the float bags themselves. But they do inflate pretty quickly, more of an explosion that an inflate.
Although there has been some debate about this, my opinion is that the high level floats should only come into play if the heli rolls over, therefore the normal floats should be unchanged. Experience (too much of it!) has shown that following a controlled ditching, the heli will stay upright in some surprisingly poor sea states. Personally I'd rather evacuate with my clothes dry if possible!
Float switches, that will work in any type of water.
Last edited by HeliComparator; 26th Aug 2013 at 19:19.