Do many people fly around with a life raft constantly in the airplane? I used to fly a guys 210 all the time with a life raft in there. In my own stuff I generally only left it in the airplane if it was needed for a flight. I could do with some ballast but maybe something more inert would be a better plan….
I do, always. Every departure from Shoreham on 20 and every approach on 02, and most flights anywhere interesting, are a possible ditching. Also, at about 10kg, I don’t want to be hauling it in and out.
Normally yes on the rear seat but like Peter I fly from a coastal airfield in the South East.RFD Pilot 3 properly serviced by SEMS.Always wear lifejackets if flying a protracted overwater sector with PLBs and sprayhoods.My airframe is Wood and fabric and I kid myself that it will most probably float better than a metal airframe if it survives the ditching being a fixed gear.Hopefully egress will be easier too with a forward sliding canopy.Theories I hope not to test ! Regards all Stampe.
Do the thoughts of it inflating on its own not give you the shivers? Ive seen that photo on Facebook with the aircraft in bits when the liferaft inflated. Has it happened in the real world I wonder. It’s probably so remote I shouldnt worry and just leave it there.
I have a (hidden) knife in the cockpit for this exact reason.
Also, I don’t ever lend the raft to anybody. I did that once (lent it to a local school; they routinely do over water flights without rafts) and it came back about 5cm thicker. Obviously, they unpacked it and tried to re-pack it. So I had to spend 200 quid getting it immediately overhauled (by SEMS).
@jgmusic
I think this is a little different to the life raft thread and figured I’d post even though it’s 2 years later.
I made a ditch kit out of a waterproof (YKK Zipper) floating gear bag.
I attached the bag via rope loosely behind my seat in easy grasp.
My copilot had one too.
Inside my bag:
x1 survival suit (tough to put on, but doable in a minute or two)
x1 sleeping bag (packed tight)
x1 small tent (2 person)
x1 waterproof flashlight
x1 camping knife
x1 Jetboil with fuel
x8 instant meals (via Jetboil)
x1 water filtration system
x1 liter bottle of water w/ UV purifier lid
x1 pair of hiking boots stuffed with warm socks
x1 compressed down jacket (Montane)
x1 plastic origami plates/bowls (flatpack)
x1 plastic spork
Total weight, about 10kg
The floating emergency radio rides in my flight bag. What I was always missing was a good communication system in my ditch kit.
I was hoping I would remember to throw something in when I pulled the survival suit out…
Sadly Johnathan is no longer with us.
Should one not be wearing a survival suit the whole time, if potentially needed?
Otherwise a “grab bag” with everything needed is a great idea. I have such a bag next to the raft; not sure if I would be able to grab it at the same time as the raft.
Peter wrote:
Should one not be wearing a survival suit the whole time, if potentially needed?
I would think so. I have done two North Sea crossings in a SEP (Stavanger-Aberdeen and v.v.) wearing a survival suit. It would have been impossible to don it inside the aircraft — even if the aircraft was stationary on the ground.
Incidentally, the trip was done in a TB20 with TKS and a GPS which was quite a novelty at the time (early 1990s). I relieved the boredom of the North Sea crossing by fiddling with the GPS. Basically nothing happened for an hour and a half except for the handovers between Scottish and Stavanger.
With a copilot it wouldn’t be a problem for me to don the suit mid-flight. Takes about a minute to put on.
For certain overwater flights I wear it, but in shorter ones above 8k ft I don’t.
When flying alone, it only makes sense to wear the suit all the time.
Regarding the grab bag:
It takes a bit for the raft to inflate. So
Step 1 grab raft, tie (with breakaway line) to plane (loop around yoke)
Step 2 pull grab bag line (secured behind and above seat)
Step 3 jump in holding on to grab bag line
Step 4 enter raft and break line to aircraft
The reason for the breakaway line is that if there are high winds, I’d likely not be able to swim fast enough to catch the raft once the wind caught it.
Never had to ditch, so this is only in theory from wilderness experience, reading about survivors and training.
Not everyone is pretty fit or mentally prepared to swim in icy waters after ditching a plane.
YMMV
