PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - SEP over water - do you? And if so how far will you go?
Old 10th Apr 2016, 11:50
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Pace
 
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Yes though one also seems to get a bit more careful in general with age. The idea of struggling into a dingy in a cold sea is a bit more daunting if one is older/stiffer/heavier
.

I am no expert on ditching and have never done it but as a scuba diver enthusiast am aware of the energy and power of the " cruel" sea at close quarters as well as how cold the water can be on instant unexpected immersion. I do think some pilots are not aware and see the whitecaps as a pretty texture to a sea 3000 feet below

RT you bring up a very good point. A dingy is very hard to get into once in the water and especially for overweight or unfit pilots or passengers.

Take the immersion shock factor and exertion which could bring on a heart attack in some and that itself becomes a serious problem.

One saving grace is that on a reasonably flat sea an aircraft will not usually sink straight off.
Some especially composites with sealed inner pockets of air in the wings may stay afloat for some time.
It is important to use that time to inflate the dinghy and enter passengers and yourself from wing level rather than all diving into the sea disorganised, panicking and with a good chance of separating from the others

As the Captain your duty does not finish on landing in the sea hopefully intact and it is up to you to organise the passengers to enter the dingy from the wing before entering yourself! Just my take
If anyone more knowledgeable disagrees feel free to correct me

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