Ditching and sea survival

[Stephen Furner]

I recently took part in the GASCo seminar on Ditching and Sea Survival at the RNLI College in Pool Dorset. If you’re going to fly over water then this is great way to find out how handle a ditching and keep alive in the water long enough to be rescued. I have no hesitation in recommending it not only for the content but also for the fun of taking part. For myself I found the practical experience of using life-rafts and a lifejacket fully clothed in a swimming pool a real eye opener about just how difficult this can be and the importance of selecting the right kit for the job and most importantly knowing how to use it. Also, hearing people from SAR services - both in the boats and from the helicopters - talking about the difficulty of spotting a head bobbing about in the sea certainly brought home the need to make it easy to be seen with PLBs, dye markers, flares, lights . . .etc. According to one of the speakers 80% of the time people survive the ditching but only 40% of the time do they stay alive in the water long enough to be rescued.

[IO540]

I am sure these ditching courses are great (genuinely so - anybody thinking otherwise needs to try to get into a little rubber boat in a swimming pool to see that it needs a definite "technique", and that is in calm water...) but I think it is safer to fly with a raft without going on the course, than without a raft and having been on the course every 6 months.

But almost nobody flies with a raft, presumably because the £1000+ cost puts people off.

(I used to be asked by flying schools/clubs if they could borrow mine. I did it just once... having got it back opened and re-packed. Had to send it off for an overhaul after that.)

[Contacttower]

But almost nobody flies with a raft, presumably because the £1000+ cost puts people off.


I'm slightly surprised to hear you suggest that, certainly I wouldn't cross the channel without one, the time in the water that one might have to wait is just too long to be sure of staying alive. My flying club has one and one can just borrow it when needed. I'd be interested to know if many flying clubs have one to lend out to members?

[Katamarino]

At least in the UK you can rent them from places like SEMS for a decent price. Here in Rotterdam our club has no liferaft, and the only place I could find that would rent one out wanted 200 Euro per week or part thereof! I ended up getting one from the UK for 5 weeks, to allow it to come across and back with visitors in their cars, instead of renting one for the 2 weeks I needed it from the Dutch place; and the total cost was only 170ish pounds...

[Stephen Furner]

SEMS are a very helpful bunch of people. It was Glen from SEMS who led the session in the pool. In the UK the lifeboat service (RNLI) is a volunteer organisation and Glen from SEMS is a pilot for their hovercraft that operates in the Thames estuary. From what is being said here it sounds like SEMS should be expanding into Europe through offering mail order services.


My impression was that for any overwater flight around the UK a lifejacket, dry suit and PLB were needed due to water temperatures and response times of SAR. Even with a lifejacket survival time in the water around the UK without a dry suit is not very long – about an hour in summer and considerably less in winter - due to the onset of hypothermia. SAR service levels in UK are designed to give a maximum response time of 1 hour to get on site. Not a big margin for error even in ideal circumstances.


There was some talk in the discussion sessions about a new Canadian information leaflet on ditching and sea survival that took a risk management approach. It was recommended reading along with the CAA safety sense leaflet 21c. Has anyone experience of using the Canadian risk management approach?

[RatherBeFlying]

There's been many threads on ditching over the years. In my opinion the drysuit and PLB have the advantage of being on your person before exiting the a/c. Rafts are not always gotten out and gotten into, but yes, for extended overwater as opposed to cross Channel, a good raft can make a difference.

See EQUIPPED TO SURVIVE (tm) - Ditching an Aircraft (http://www.equipped.com/ditchtoc.htm) for some real life ditching stories.

[brisl]

I attended the same session.

I have no doubt that if I ever have to ditch in the sea and I survive the experience, said survival will be entirely due to this session.
For my cross channel trips I wear dry suit and life-jacket and I always take a raft. What I learnt on this course was that I didn't know how to use them properly! First few moments in the pool revealed that: (1) my life jacket straps weren't quite tight enough and I needed to top up the inflation to keep my head out of the water. (2) I needed to find the right technique to expel excess air from the dry suit and (3) I couldn't get into the raft - the same model I own!

Happy to say that after a short rest I managed to get into the raft - with the aid of a strap that I didn't previously know was there and I couldn't see when I was in the water.

All in all an excellent day. And the lifeboat simulator was awesome :O

[IO540]

My impression was that for any overwater flight around the UK a lifejacket, dry suit and PLB were needed due to water temperatures and response times of SAR
I am sure that is true technically, but against that you have to balance trying to get your new bird to wear a drysuit :)

I know a lot of people are rather more, shall we say, "open minded" these days, and I am reliably informed that the latex/handcuffs scene is doing quite well, so she may be relatively receptive to getting into a PA28, but IMHO a drysuit is not going to go down too well on your first date... nor on any subsequent one :)

A liferaft represents a reasonable escape route, for the miniscule probability (assuming a correctly managed certified engine) of an engine failure.

[david viewing]

IO540 said: the miniscule probability (assuming a correctly managed certified engine) of an engine failure.


Where is Mr Guppy these days?

[Stephen Furner]

IO540 raises an interesting issue around risk management.

It may well be that for a short cross channel transit - using the minimum overwater route on a clear calm hot summer’s day to show off your Cirrus - a raft on its own is a reasonable option. Lots of people around in the air and the water to provide assistance and the route is well within the SAR coverage. However, if you plan to go to Ostend direct routing out over the CLN VOR in an old hired club hack - an aircraft that you got a cheap deal on so the owner could get some money out of the remaining time on the engine before it goes for an overhaul to zero time - then a life jacket, dry suit, PLB, and a life raft may well be needed along with a lot of good luck.

It’s a question of the correct tool for the job. This was what interested the GASCo people at the seminar about the Canadian risk management approach. It was suggested that with this approach there is no one size fits all; that, it was necessary look at what the mission is, work out the risks and then take what you need to manage them down to a reasonable level for your flight.

[Stephen Furner]

I have just been made aware that the risk management approach that I have saying comes from Canada is in fact from New Zealand. The reference for it is CAA of New Zealand Advisory Circular AC125-2. My profound apologies for creating confusion over this issue. The link to the document is: http://www.caa.govt.nz/Advisory_Circulars/AC125-2.pdf