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Channel Crossing (merged thread)

Endorse all the above.
If one is crossing the English Channel via Dover- Cap Griz Nez or Lydd – Le Touquet, the crossing time is actually very short + the comforting blue ‘glide’ circle distance on Skydemon should give you reassurance if you need it.
If you are talking to Lydd, then you are in communication with the field that now has the local ‘Search & Rescue’ for the South-East.
Although a ‘Mayday’ to them requires that they contact ‘national control’; they will immediately pre-warn the people on the ground 100 yards away so that they will be even more ready to ‘lift off’ when required. Their helicopter should be with you in 15 minutes on either of those routes.

Rochester, UK, United Kingdom

We have been flying with our 172b from KOKSY/DOVER in spring in an altitude of 3-4000 ft and figured you’d have more chances to get run over than to drown, so we were fine with normal manual life wests. In case of emergency we would have had 5-7 Minutes until touchdown to call for help and set off the ELT and find the smallest vessel within distance to land in its view (the larger ones can’t stop in time to pick you up).

Last Edited by mh at 28 May 08:12
mh
Aufwind GmbH
EKPB, Germany

If you are flying IFR, you might not have a huge say in the route you take, no not able to take the shortest route.

If flying VFR, you won’t be able to fly that high. There is class A airspace there which (from memory) will restrict you to something like FL65 or FL75. But often the weather will keep you much lower.

Having said that 22NM is only about 10 minutes. It’s not a long exposure to risk.

I personally wouldn’t do it without life jackets and a raft. While the risk is low, if it happens, and you don’t have those, then you have little chance of survival. I don’t like putting my life 100% on the engine with no way out if it fails. Ask around. There is probably a club or friend who you can borrow them from.

Important things are to wear the life jackets. You’ll have no time to put them on in an emergency, and make sure that the life raft is somewhere that you can easily find it after a sudden stop. Anything on the backseats will no longer be there after a sudden impact and you’ll struggle to find it in the panic. I tend to stuff it down behind the front seats, so that in a sudden stop, it’s got nowhere forward to go (so it will still be there), or on the passenger seat (it will end up in the passenger footwell.

The other thing to make sure is that everyone knows what they have to do in the event of a ditching. Who’s getting out where, in what order, and what do they have to bring with them. Better to agree this when things are calm!

Have you looked at your options for landing in Edinburgh? I believe the main airport is prohibitively expensive but never checked myself.

Colm

EIWT Weston, Ireland

I do it with jackets and raft, KOK-DVR usually at 4000ft and often lower but not in winter

EHLE / Lelystad, Netherlands, Netherlands

Not objecting to a raft, although ideally you should have gone through a water immersion course. In the Super Cub a raft is impractical, however I like to think that you may last longer than 30 minutes. The swimming hole in Dublin (Forty foot) has plenty of regulars, even in winter, without wet suits, and from personal experience you can stay in the water well over 30 minutes without ill effect.

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

Some very good advice above. Id’ definitely wear life vests (preferably ones with a hood that folds over your head) and take a liferaft – they are available for hire or to borrow for these odd occasions. But probability suggests that if your engine has been working OK before you get to the coast, and you don’t make any significant changes (e.g. change tanks mid channel), then its extremely likely to continue to operate until to reach glide distance of the other side.

I read some figures indicating engine failures occur around 100,000 of operation. If you take into account that many of those would have been showing signs of pending failure, were being abused at the time combined with your total time over water, you can see there are far more significant factors affecting flight safety.

Landing/Handling Fees at Edinburgh are a much more concerning topic. You might even want to consider Dundee as a destination and hire a car there.

Enjoy.

PS: We cover all of this on my one day ground school next month

FlyerDavidUK, PPL & IR Instructor
EGBJ, United Kingdom

Thanks for the answers, very good advice. FL 65 gives me 5 minutes until ditching, and although I agree it is very unlikely that the engine quits that exact moment, it is also not entirely impossible. Therefore I would go through the immersion course. Most people who lost their lives in water emergencies lost them after they survived the ditching, either by drowning or by freezing to death. The Bo has a single door on the right hand side, but at least the back seat windows serve as emergency exits. But you need to train….. It’s also advisable to train climbing aboard the raft, which can be a very cumbersome process.

Thanks again !

Last Edited by EuroFlyer at 28 May 11:04
Safe landings !
EDLN, Germany

Glenrothes would be a better option. Kirknewton used to be an option if you had the right connections but the runway surface was not brilliant. Even Cumbernauld might be better than Edinburgh itself.

EHLE / Lelystad, Netherlands, Netherlands

Yeah it would be more north, Dundee area….

Safe landings !
EDLN, Germany

Therefore I would go through the immersion course. Most people who lost their lives in water emergencies lost them after they survived the ditching, either by drowning or by freezing to death. It’s also advisable to train climbing aboard the raft, which can be a very cumbersome process.

The general idea with a raft is to step out onto the wing (low wing assumed), activate it, step into it, if possible get anybody else into it, and let the plane sink away from under it.

It has been done by many, and with a bit of luck you barely get your feet wet. One poster here did it exactly this way, with my exact raft and from the same plane.

With one person in the raft, others (assuming they can swim at all) can get into it easily even from the sea. Well, assuming they have reasonable agility.

If you have to get into an empty raft from the water then it is a lot harder. There are a couple of methods I know about. I would search past posts on “raft” etc.

But it really does all hang on getting out before the plane sinks. After the entire plane has become submerged, there will be zero buyoancy and it will sink very fast – of the order of 10kt-20kt. After that point, nobody will be getting out… So one-door planes are not a great idea, IMHO, or at least you need to think about who sits next to the door.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
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