IMHO a life raft is the only viable plan. In many cases in Europe, life jackets will just assist in the recovery of the corpse.
A good outcome in this case!
Here’s an interesting and detailed testimomy of another Cessna 210 ditching off the coast of Corsica with 6 on board. Unfortunately, it is “French-only”. 
He did well.
But no doubt it was helped by the temperature of the water. In more northerly places that would be a lot harder.
I think 45 mins IS quick. Somehow the message has to get from the aircraft to ATC to S&R. Then S&R has to get the aircraft started and in the air.
Then there is travel time to the scene.
Then there is time in simply finding them.
I too wondered if they had a PLB, but don’t place too much faith in them. They can take 45 mins just to get a fix/signal out from what I’ve read, though they all seem to include a 121.5MHZ homing beacon which can help them zone in on you.
dublinpilot wrote:
I think 45 mins IS quick. Somehow the message has to get from the aircraft to ATC to S&R. Then S&R has to get the aircraft started and in the air.
I think that 2 minutes are more than enough for that. The SAR team should be at the helicopter before the aircraft even ditches. They were 20 minutes from the airport which means the helicopter had to fly a long distance and then also has to locate the raft. It sounds to me the SAR team only needed a few minutes until takeoff. That was a ditching in France. I wonder what the result would have been if the ditching was in Greece, Italy, Egypt, Tunesia, etc…
In the case of the video I posted, it took them more than four hours to pick them up from a few miles west of the coast if Corsica…
4 hrs to be picked up is scary. I guess I may be in the market for a raft… Or a second engine.
I think that 2 minutes are more than enough for that. The SAR team should be at the helicopter before the aircraft even ditches.
Living on an island, this is something that I take a keen interest in 
I asked S&R here, that specific question a few times in the past. The answer has always been that they are committed to being in the air within 10 minutes of the call being received by them (not by ATC, but by the time the call is received in their office) and that sometimes they are in the air “a good bit before that”.
Two minutes is unrelastic. ATC have to scribble down your details from your mayday call (probally ask for info such as POB), call S&R, wait on the phone to be answered. The message has to come from the phone operator to everyone to go, and pass on the details of where they are going. They have to run to the aircraft, and put on their helimets etc. Get the aircraft started, and call for a take off clearance etc.
None of these things are long in themselves, but they all add up.
I think 4hrs is completely possible, anywhere.
All you need is for somebody to screw up, like this
So, for me, a raft, an EPIRB with GPS, and a handheld radio. I carry the Survival Products raft, with the canopy. It has been TB20 ditch tested
Above is the original french press release.
- A Falcon 50 was first on the scene in just 10 minutes after the call from Bastia ATC !
- The Super Puma arrived just a few minutes later and a rescue boat was on it’s way.
Peter, do you have any spare payload for passengers or do you the equipment at home whenever you bring someone along?
