Your flex-wing technique may have merit as a few years ago a Channel
ditched flex-wing sank with its pilot, who could not get out of the seat. I
don't know the full details but presume that structural deformation of the
trike tubes upon impact had 'locked' him in.
Flying the Channel (or the Irish Sea) with a companion aircraft has not been
mentioned, but must greatly improve the chances of rescue and survival.
Duncan McFadyean
PS my money is on the life raft so far in this debate! Where can I get a
LIGHTWEIGHT 2-man version?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Taylor" <kevin@eastyorkshire.co.uk>
Subject: RE: Europa-List: Survival
<kevin@eastyorkshire.co.uk>
>
> David,
>
> I think you have a point and my theory of jumping from the flex wing maybe
> ought not to be carried over to the 3 axis.
>
> I always considered that if I did land on water I would do my best to
stall
> it on and risk a heavy flop rather than flipping over from forward
momentum.
>
> Interesting information you bring to the forum and my thanks for that.
Looks
> like the info I was given was probably more negative on survival time than
> it needed to be.
>
> Last year when we had a mass flex wing crossing of the Irish sea I tried
to
> contact the RNLI several times via email to no avail.
>
> The channel doesn't concern me so much due to the reasonably short
distance
> and the ships there are plenty to pick one up.
>
> As for the Irish sea well that feels a lonely place with not so many. Due
to
> the D201 Dublin ATC lack of help and the general poor radio coverage
between
> Caernarfon and Dublin I probably wont go that route again in future.
>
> I have now fitted a Transponder to my aircraft as I got fed up of not been
> allowed service because I have no transponder.
>
> On that issue when returning from France recently I was refused FIS for
the
> channel crossing return leg because I didn't have a transponder. They told
> me they wouldn't activate a flight plan and I should call London Info. Not
> much help when you are near Abbeville. I managed to activate my plan about
> one third of the way across which wouldn't have been much help had I have
> gone down as no one knew I was there.
>
> Regards
>
> Kev T
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
> [mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com]On Behalf Of david joyce
> To: europa-list@matronics.com
> Subject: Europa-List: Survival
>
>
> I have done a bit of searching round the topic. The Air Accident Invest
> Board site searched for Ditching gives some interesting info:
> In the 10 reports produced there was no incident where anyone with
a
> lifejacket ditched in a controlled way and did not survive. A PA28 ditched
> off Guernsey with two pax wearing life jackets and pilot without. The
plane
> floated long enough for them to get out on to the wing, inflate the dinghy
> and for the pilot to go back into the plane to get all his kit into the
> dinghy. He ditched with flaps down and gear up.
> A Robin however with fixed gear flipped over on landing. This was
a
> night flight which would not have helped, but it could just be that in
among
> these two incidents there is a fringe message to add to the mono vs
trigear
> debate! Neither pilot was wearing the life jacket available in the
aircraft,
> and while one swam to shore the other apparently took off in the wrong
> direction and drowned.
> They give a graph for 'Likely Survival Time for a Relatively
> Thin Person in Calm Water with no Liferaft'. This compares survival with
> just lightweight summer clothing and a survival suit with trousers, long
> johns, shirt and heavy pullover. This doesn't seem a totally equable
> comparison, but does make the point that the insulation qualities of the
> survival suit depend on you wearing thick clothing underneath it, which
from
> Kevin's account is not too attractive a proposition. They give the
following
> survival times:
> At 5 deg C - S. suit 1 hr 50mins; summer cloths 50 mins.
> At 10 deg C - S suit 3 hrs; summer cloths 1 hr
> The sea temp in the Channel and Irish Sea at present according to Ant
Veals
> weather site is around 12 deg C. I haven't got temps for mid winter but it
> is difficult to imagine it will be below 5 deg. Kevins acdvice about
> survival times in the Irish Sea in May clearly came from a different hymn
> sheet than the AAIB one. In all the AAIB comment and discussion I have
waded
> through there is heavy emphasis on having user friendly lifejackets, and
> always wearing them, and talk also about dinghies but no mention of the
> desirability of Survival Suits.
> In relation to the question of flipping over or trying to jump
out
> sooner it is worth saying that the guys in the Robin got out without
trouble
> from the upturned plane, and I think I would prefer my chances of doing
that
> (as long as I had a good four point harness) rather than risking being
> clobbered by some part of the plane while jumping out, or misjudging the
> timing and having it land on top of you or immediately in front. I am also
> not sure that hitting a wave at 40 kts would be a pleasant experience, and
> it might just be enough to tear your life jacket off. The AAIB detailed
one
> instance where the guy only had a lap strap, hit the water at speed and
had
> head injuries which stopped him getting out. The website for anyone
> interested is www.aaib.dft.gov.uk Regards, David
>
>
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