For what its worth here is my input.
I have a survival suit and wore it last year when crossing the Irish
Caernarfon to Dublin 70 nautical miles. I was advised that around may
survival time without a Immersions suit was less than 10 mins. With a suit
it should be nearer an hour. Given that the odds of been rescued in 10 mins
were very low, but the odds of rescue in one hour were better I bought the
suit.
I didn't have the Europa at the time it was a Rallye. The ground temp in
Caernarfon was about 26 deg.
To be honest wearing the suit was a big danger!
The sun on the Perspex canopy turned the Rallye in to a green house. The
temp in the cabin was far too warm and although my passenger was comfortable
(without a suite) I was probably close to passing out at times. This was not
helped by the tight neck and wrist seals which you get with theses suits.
When I landed I was very relieved. I undid the zip and run my hands across
my t-shirt. I knocked of about 5 litres of sweat.
I didn't wear the suit on the way back.
I have crossed the Irish sea twice and channel once since and NO I HAVENT
worn the suit again.
I have thought a lot about it and as daft as it seams one reason for not
wearing it is I feel guilty I don't have one for my passenger.
Silly thing is when ever I set out over water I think is this the time I
should have worn it.
However my major concern is landing on the sea without the under cart
(trigear) flipping me over. This was a discussion point on the micro group
and when I flew a flex over water my action plan was to jump before the flex
hit the water.
I now have a CT and because its easier to exit than the Europa I have
planned to do that. Maybe wrongly?
My plan is full flap, in to wind, get it near the stall open door and jump.
It stalls about 34kts so a little slower than a Europa in fairness.
I am surprised to read about the expectation of the Europa to float. My
assumption with any plane was once it touched the water it would go do and
pretty dam quick.
As for debating the issue I think its a dam fine Idea. Any ideas and
documented cases would help to make an informed decision.
As for me if I try the Immersion suit again it will be either on a flexwing
or on a cool day next time.
Regards
Kev T
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com]On Behalf Of Nigel
Charles
Subject: Re: Europa-List: Survival
<nigelcharles@tiscali.co.uk>
>It would not be surprising of course if a Survival Equipment firm thought
it a good idea for folk to buy survival kit.<
Yes, however they could have easily used the situation to advise the
purchase of a dinghy instead, making them even more money. Their advice was
that if you are only going to buy a dinghy or survival suits then the best
option is survival suits. You know they are going to work. They also point
out that in some ditching cases it was not possible to get the dinghy out of
the aircraft in time.
> I assume that your friend was flying something a bit less
seaworthy than a Europa, and find it difficult to imagine that a Europa
would sink in 2 mins unless you hit the water so hard that you knocked the
wings off, in which case you would probably be beyond worrying about
sinking.<
Quite right but having done sea survival training I can assure you that in
anything other than flat calm coping with the survival tasks is not as
straightforward as it seems. It is quite possible for a wing to dig into a
wave on touchdown and be ripped off. The fuselage could then easily fill
with water whilst tipped on its side. Escaping from a semi submerged
fuselage in a typical English Channel swell could be awkward enough let
alone removing the dinghy and inflating it. Although my Classic Europa has
foam wings the XS does not and there is no guarantee that it will remain
afloat once the wings have filled with water assuming they were still
attached.
>The figures for only 50% surviving the ditching are widely quoted, but do
you have the detail? How many of these were in mid Ocean, or polar waters
rather than the Channel? How many were in light aircraft equipped with a
dinghy? It would be nice to know what the figures are for the sort of
situation we are equipping ourselves for, rather than world figures that no
doubt include people flying in the vilest conditions (which may have
triggered the ditching) in totally inhospitable places. <
I have no further info on this but it is interesting that a fit adult
immersed in the English Channel for 35 minutes at the best time of year was
not far from expiring. This is bad enough without considering worse
scenarios.
Finally I did not raise this issue on the forum. If David wishes to just
use a liferaft then that is fine by me. I am happy with my decision. I am
sure others will make their own judgements on this topic.
Nigel Charles
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