Why Training for Egress ?
Why bother to train or even think about ditch training, it will never happen to me and if it does I will deal with it right. Sure and why bother buying insurance or learning how to deal with engine failures, stalls or any other emergency. Why because somewhere sometime in our pilot pool there will be some unfortunate individuals that these things do happen to.
When confronted with such challenges the difference for you and your passengers between living and not may depend on the time you the pilot spent training for such a situation.
Just for fun peruse the accidents/incidents column to substantiate my claims as pilots we are in a game that can have harsh consequences regardless of good airmanship.
August 2004 claimed the fourth ditching in Ontario floatplanes alone over this summer ranging from take off loss of control to landing upsets and gear down water landings in amphibs.
Being an Egress instructor I have witnessed the complete disorientation and total loss of ability for thousands of pilots and passengers to escape our aircraft look alike equipment in warm chest deep pool water.
Now imagine a real life situation with total panic and the sobering thought that I am trapped inside a cold flooded aircraft and unable to breathe with possibly only seconds to survive.
Statistically large numbers of aircraft which end up inverted in water regardless of wheels or floats prove to be more than the occupants are prepared for, and the majority has great difficulty getting out if at all.
In past decades the determining factor to a successful Egress was directly related to the crash impact speed and water temperature on that given day.
To expand on that when we are subjected to an impact followed by a blast of ice cold water during a ditching then soaked completely upside down and contained in a box like object bad things are going to follow in most cases.
Egress training will not change the events described above but it will make the first few valuable seconds count knowing what to do and immediately starting the pre determined escape plan.
Things like staying in your seat belt upside down while finding the door handle and then opening the exit before releasing could be all the difference.
Other suggestions are nobody onboard should wear anything such as floater coats or life vests giving floatation which is why the C-13 PFD on board all float aircraft was invented in the early days. We have equipment to prove the point but if you are a non believer take a 5 gallon jerry can to the lake and try to drag it under a dock while imagining it strapped to your back.
Now with our one day affordable Egress program we are able to reach those all across Canada this fall that were unable to attend ditching training or had never even heard about the course.
In ending once we hold a pilots license there is an obligation to practice our emergencies on occasion and be open to new additions to our training portfolio for ourselves and people we carry.
AES will be available from Ontario to BC soon in spring of 2008 so why not take the time to experience what I am talking about for yourself. If water is not your favorite place to be then even more the reason to join in and trust me your not alone.
Bryan Webster is a 11.000 hour plus pilot actively flying a Beaver on the BC coast today.
In 1977 he was a passenger involved in a water crash while the pilot attempted to avoid power lines draped over the Fraser River east of Vancouver.
For questions or to enroll in the AES Egress program contact Bryan at
1-877- GO-DITCH
info@dunkyou.com
www.dunkyou.com
Tags: ditching, Egress, inverted, plane, train, training, why