Is it a fact that aviation liferafts vent to air by default, and marine liferafts inflate? An inadvertent inflated liferaft is no problem on a boat, but a disaster in a GA cabin.
My club uses this raft: https://transair.co.uk/survival-equipment/aviation-liferafts/rfd-pilot-aviation-liferaft It weighs 12 kg.
£2200.00 plus is quite a cost for a single pilot if it may only be used two ot 3 times a year.
Perfect if shared in a club. Or great if a couple of owners can ‘pool’ together.
When I nearly bought a used RFD version, I was quoted £250+ vat for a service. Some have a shorter service interval, of my be 2 yrs.
It then worked out cheaper to rent.
Any marine one without auto inflate will suit but will be heavier and may pack larger.
All of our boat ones have been Manual and always will be. Too much risk of tjem getting wet unintentionally. Anywhere safe for emergency deployment will be a wet place on most boats.
Keeping a knife to hand is definitely the way to go in an aircraft, no matter what type.
It could also be an issue for life vests too.
When ours are ready for canister replacement we always deploy them first, and some inflate very quickly and some are large enough to interfere with the Yoke if sitting in a normal position.
I find this one quite handy:
https://www.lalizas.com/product/143-recreational/6187-liferaft-leisure-raft
Costs less than 700€ and weighs less than 10 kg.
An account from an FI who ditched a low wing UL near Corsica :
It is in French
Important facts :
- he smell a strange, chemical smell that was most probably the (brand-new) lithium battery. Unsure of what could catch fire, the decided to shut off the fuel and ditched, being more afraid of fire than ditching.
- he was in radio & radar contact with FIS, but had no ELT/PLB (I don’t think an ELT would have been of any use).
- he wore a brand-new life vest, which never inflated itself. He had to inflate it with his mouth. It still saved his life during the swim.
- he saw several helicopters and aircraft searching for him, in the wrong area
- he swam more than one hour (with rests), than walked 5 hours through the maquis until he met a kind of ermit. A chopper than recovered him there.
Edit :
- the impact is very hard and a four-point harness is very helpful to be in the best position to release it and leave the cockpit.
- the UL sank in 1 or 2 seconds, taken down by the weight of the engine. He had no time to think or grab anything he didn’t wear on him.
Jujupilote wrote:
- he smell a strange, chemical smell that was most probably the (brand-new) lithium battery. Unsure of what could catch fire, the decided to shut off the fuel and ditched, being more afraid of fire than ditching.
I don’t understand that. If he did fear a fire, enough to ditch a working aircraft, why not prepare for ditching, and then continue to fly at 20ft above the water. If a fire broke out, he could ditch in the length of time it took the aircraft to slow down from cruise speed to landing speed. Surely a battery fire couldn’t spread that fast?
Jujupilote wrote:
- he smell a strange, chemical smell that was most probably the (brand-new) lithium battery. Unsure of what could catch fire, the decided to shut off the fuel and ditched, being more afraid of fire than ditching.
That sounds completely crazy to me. Why not switch everything off besides the engine and iPad and then fly low level over the water. If anything really catches fire you can still ditch nearly immediately.
A while ago we had this Jetprop accident. There was also a smell but the electric heater had switched off and all the mess which did follow was an over reaction. Or this Falcon which ran over the end of the runway because the flight attendant did deploy the fire entinguisher by accident. Fire is bad but creating an even bigger mess because of too much fear is also bad.
Years ago tower told me on the ILS plane is on fire. I did consider shortly what crazy immediate action I could take but then realized we would be on the ground in 1 minute anyway. In the end it was just an over rich mixture but I had a short moment where I did consider to dive for some field before the runway and I have no idea how that would have turned out…
Well, that’s not in the PPL curriculum 
He was closer to Bastia but had a mountain range between him and the field. He could maybe have skimmed the waves to Calvi but, if you never thought about it, you are not going to invent such a strategy on the spot.
He could see some light smoke out of the panel and maybe he thought the cockpit could be filled in seconds, making a ditching even more risky.
Well if you smell this smell, your battery can reach 1500°C or so in seconds, next to fuel hoses etc ….
His first thought was get on the ground before it all burns. Maybe if he had shut off everything and managed a best glide, he would have swum much less.
I don’t blame him, more the plane manufacturer and even more so the lifevest manufacturer !!
" he wore a brand-new life vest, which never inflated itself."
Self-inflating lifevests are not recommended for aircraft. You have to pull a toggle to inflate. If the inflating cylinder has unscrewed, it wouldn’t inflate.
I’ve noticed one had unscrewed after a long and turbulent flight.
I’ve also caught the toggle on something and inflated in the cockpit.
No problem with lap-and-diagonal, but I worry with full harness.
If his aircraft had a lift up canopy, which would depart if opened in flight, and might hit the tail, I can understand his actions. A successful ditching while choking in a smoke-filled cockpit would be near impossible.
Maoraigh wrote:
" he wore a brand-new life vest, which never inflated itself."
Self-inflating lifevests are not recommended for aircraft. You have to pull a toggle to inflate.
To clarify for people who don’t understand French. The life jacket was one worn in a pouch at the waist. The pilot reports that it is supposed to inflate when you open the pouch or when you pull the toggle. Both failed.
If his aircraft had a lift up canopy
He mentions unlocking the doors several times.
