I have just heard that a Europa friend,( for whose flying skills, knowledge and
judgement I have the greatest respect,) is contemplating investing in survival
suits for cross channel trips. While I would not want to seem critical of
anyone's
attempts to do their best for their own and their loved one's safety, I
fear there is a down side to this and thus felt it worth raising for discussion.
My wife (and a number of other Europa ladies I know what of), is
not
entirely convinced about the wisdom of flying in any small plane, with any
sort of pilot. I can imagine that , when/if I eventually persuade her that a
trip
to the continent would be endurable, even delightful and of course safe, that
if we turn up at Lydd or wherever to find the next Europa crew donning survival
suits, it will be enough to see her on to the next train home!
This friend I may say spends most of his time flying round the world
with four engines, and probably with the rest of those who haven't been clever
enough, lucky enough or disciplined enough to persuade someone to pay us to
do likewise, I suspect that this superfluity of engines at his workplace has
warped his judgement!
I would be the last to pretend it is not PD cold in British waters
- I have absolutely refused to swim in them without a wetsuit since my early
twenties.However
---From 5000 ft my measured best glide angle of 1-12 with prop windmilling
(significantly better if prop stopped) gives a glide range of near 12
miles. In fact immediately pulling back to convert a cruise speed of 120kt to
a glide speed of 75kt yields an extra 385 ft which takes the glide range over
12 miles, but that's simply being pernickety!
On my two O/R trips via S'hampton - Cherbourg last year there were
never less than 20 boats in sight, and landing alongside one capable of stopping
in less than 5 miles would not have been a challenge. In last week's Europa
Club trip to Ireland we did Blackpool-Belfast direct and S.E Ireland to St
Davids
direct. There were not so many boats in the Irish Sea but nevertheless
landing close to a boat, an oilrig or on land was always easily possible. On top
of that we all had liferafts, and if I was unlucky enough to have engine
failure
in the middle of nautical nowhere, combined with communication failure
or search failure, I would prefer my chances of long term survival in a dinghy
rather than bobbing around in a survival suit. Have I missed something?
Musing on this has made me wonder whether the Europa Club should not
act as a directory of those who like me have a dinghy and would be perfectly
happy to lend it to another Europa pilot. May your engines never stop! David
Joyce
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